Khumbulani Sibanda

Research approach/design and method: This empirical study was conducted from a quantitative positivist paradigm, utilising a cross-sectional design. A total of 5308 participants completed the self-administered survey from organisations in both the public and private sectors. The analysis includes item screening, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test for common method bias (CMB), determination of convergent validity and invariance analysis (configural, metric and scalar). Main findings: The results yielded reliable and valid SpL instrument, which is invariant with regards to the private and public sectors used in this study. The results of the study were also not influenced by CMB. Practical/managerial implications: This study provides a validated contextualised scale that can be used to measure leadership efficiency and efficacy. Contribution/value-add: The practical and academic value is the newly developed SpL instrument for the context of South African organisations. It can thus be used with confidence by organisational researchers and academics.

Research purpose: To critically analyse organisational spiritual leadership (SpL) from an African Management Philosophies (AMP) perspective and whether these are secular or nonsecular. Motivation for the study: Knowledge would be drawn from two bodies of scholarly literature, namely SpL and AMP. Research design, approach and method: Literature will be systematically reviewed, focusing on three aspects of the body on knowledge, namely concepts, definitions and typologies (elements). Main findings: The concept of SpL seems empirically much more operationalised than AMP. Central to organisational spiritual leadership are the leader's values, attitudes and behaviours that intrinsically motivate followers to have a sense of spiritual survival through membership and calling, while AMP emphasise traditionalism, communalism, cooperative teamwork and mythologies. Practical/managerial implications: The research seeks to highlight the existing gaps in literature of a contextualised African measure of SpL. Contribution or value add: A secular and non-secular approach to spirituality emerges, which looks at AMP as emboldened by Ubuntu ideality that is contrary to extant literature on organisational spiritual leadership.

This research is about a focus group of managers and their experiences relating to spiritual leadership in the South African context. Research purpose: To critically examine mainstream spiritual leadership, within the context of African management philosophies (AMP), towards describing and prosing a southern African spiritual leadership scale. Motivation for the study: A systematic literature review revealed a stark gap in empirical evidence of the existence of spiritual leadership as a harbinger of employee contentment, welfare, and organisational success in Africa. Research design, approach and method: Through the interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) process, data from eight managers were collected and analysed, and an interrogation of the existence of spiritual leadership via the African lens using AMP typologies was conducted. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted via a focus group of eight managers drawn using biased sampling based on 'distance and power' analysis to the phenomena of spiritual leadership. Main findings: Connection to nature principles (nurturing) are a primary driver to employee welfare. Life as a universal current's elements (compassion and empathy) influence Ubuntu principles, national culture principles (a set of behaviours, customs, and beliefs) and Indigenous knowledge systems (unadulterated knowledge). Ubuntu also influences cooperative teamwork (togetherness) which is a circulator in the scale that triggers intrinsic motivation which is impacted by traditionalism (adherence to accepted customs and beliefs), and communalism principles (belonging to a community). Intrinsic motivation impacts employee turnover which is influenced by engagement, performance, productivity, and mythology (African myths and lore). Employee turnover ultimately influences employee welfare which is a primary outcome. Contribution or value add: This research helps undergird spiritual leadership in the South African context by equipping leaders with a new paradigm that uses local management principles that measures its enablers and inhibitors.