In manufacturing organizations, transformational leadership is not only about supervising tasks but also about shaping employees’ experiences of meaning, awareness, connection, support, and voluntary contribution. Drawing primarily on social exchange theory (SET) and transformational leadership perspectives, this study examines the association of perceived transformational leadership (PTL) with workplace spirituality dimensions, namely meaningful work, mindfulness, transcendence, compassion, and sense of community, along with its association with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among managerial employees in Indian manufacturing firms.
The study adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional research design. Data were collected from 412 managerial employees working in manufacturing firms in Chhattisgarh, India. The measurement and structural models were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
The results indicate that PTL is positively and significantly associated with all five workplace spirituality dimensions and OCB. Among the workplace spirituality dimensions, sense of community showed the strongest association with PTL, followed by mindfulness, transcendence, compassion, and meaningful work. PTL also demonstrated a strong positive association with OCB, suggesting that supportive, inspirational, and individualized leadership behaviors may correspond with employees’ cooperative, discretionary, and extra-role behaviors. However, the relatively high associations involving transcendence indicate that its distinctiveness should be interpreted cautiously.
This study contributes to workplace spirituality, transformational leadership, and OCB literature by positioning PTL as an important relational and organizational condition associated with employees’ spiritual work experiences and citizenship behavior. It offers context-specific empirical evidence from managerial employees in Indian manufacturing firms, an area that remains relatively underexplored in emerging economy research.
