To Withdraw or Not to Withdraw: The Role of Workplace Spirituality and Intrinsic Work Motivation

The withdrawal behaviour of employees has been a serious concern for organizations around the world to date so much so that the area demanded further research on causes of withdrawal behaviour. This is far more severe in the hospitality industry where employee retention has become a major challenge for the management. Although previous researchers have already investigated the withdrawal behaviour of employees, the empirical findings show an inconclusive causality between the antecedents of withdrawal behaviour and the withdrawal behaviour among employees in the hospitality industry. Thus, still questions remain on how those factors influence employee withdrawal behaviour. To address these problems and to view withdrawal behaviour from a novel perspective, the authors drew on the social exchange theory, confirming the theory by conceptualizing the mediating impact of intrinsic work motivation between workplace spirituality and employee withdrawal behaviour. Workplace spirituality has been identified as a prominent influential factor for many work outcomes, including withdrawal behaviour; yet its impact remains under explored. After an extensive review of extant literature, this paper proposes a model which explains the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between workplace spirituality and withdrawal behaviour. This conceptualization contributes to an extension of the current understanding of employee withdrawal behaviour and provides managers with insights into strategies they can utilize to minimize withdrawal behaviour in organizations.