An exploratory study on the morphology and measurement of spirituality: development of a scale

Several models attempting to define spirituality and study its effect on organisational performance have been forwarded by scholars in the past. However, most of these studies suffer from significant conceptual and measurement gaps. Further, studies have argued that non-western societies are better in integrating personal life, work, leisure, prayer, religion and other aspects of one's life. Increasingly scholars have looked at some of the Indian texts to derive richer insights into the understanding of spirituality. Vedas are the earliest written texts in the world and most scholars agree that the text of Vedas is universal in nature and does not cater to any specific religion. Specifically, Chapter 40 of Yajurveda provides rich insights into the understanding of spirituality. The 17 mantras (hymns) of this chapter also form a part of Ishopnishad, an Indian text on philosophy and an expanded understanding of these 17 mantras forms the text of Gita, which provides the basic philosophy that has driven the Indian thinking since its inception. This study attempts to derive a definition of spirituality from these texts and attempts to provide understanding of spirituality in humans. Further, the study introduces a culture blind scale based on the elements derived from these texts. The research design included three broad stages: item generation, scale development, and assessment of scale's psychometric properties. The sample included a cross section of post graduate students of a premier business school in India, cutting across vocations, religions, and personalities. The emerging scale shows robust psychometric properties and is expected to be useful for academics and practitioners alike.