Workplace Spirituality in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

What the paper says

Workplace spirituality has gained increasing recognition for its potential to enhance both employee and customer experiences. However, in the tourism and hospitality sector, which centres on employee–customer interactions, this subject remains notably underexplored, underscoring the need for further research to fully understand its impact in this setting. This gap likely stems from a limited understanding of workplace spirituality in this context. Most studies on workplace spirituality in tourism and hospitality emphasize its impact on business outcomes but provide little insight into its conceptualization, theoretical framework and measurement tools. Inconsistencies in operationalizing concepts and variations in dimensions further contribute to the confusion. A comprehensive review is crucial to bridging these gaps and advancing the field. The current study systematically reviews workplace spirituality studies by examining their definitions, theoretical backgrounds, instruments and role in tourism and hospitality. This study used the PRISMA technique to screen articles published between 2000 and 2023 in SCOPUS-listed journals. The authors found several operational definitions of the workplace spirituality used in tourism and hospitality studies. Importantly, the use of various instruments to operationalize concepts makes it challenging to compare findings across studies and leads to inconsistencies in the literature. Given the nature of work in the tourism and hospitality sector, we propose the inclusion of a workplace spirituality dimension. This dimension aims to assist practitioners and academics in measuring employees’ experiences with guests in tourism and hospitality settings. In addition, this study extensively discusses research gaps.