Abstract:
Workplace spirituality has emerged as a vital construct in organisational research,
influencing both business practices and employee outcomes. In the healthcare sector,
particularly among private hospital nurses, declining work engagement has raised
concerns about service quality and employee well-being. Given the critical role
nurses play in patient care and the rising stressors within Sri Lanka’s private
healthcare sector, examining workplace spirituality and mindfulness provides
valuable insights into sustaining engagement in this unique cultural and occupational
context. This study investigates the mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship
between workplace spirituality and work engagement among nurses in private
hospitals in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Workplace spirituality was examined through four
dimensions: inner life, meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment with
organisational values. An exploratory cross-sectional quantitative design was
employed, using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were collected
from a stratified random sample of 311 nurses and analysed with SPSS. Statistical
techniques included factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation, multiple
regression, and mediation analysis. Findings revealed a strong positive relationship
between workplace spirituality and work engagement. Among its dimensions,
meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment with organisational values
significantly predicted engagement, while inner life showed no direct association.
Contrary to expectations and prior findings from Western and public sector contexts,
mindfulness did not exert a statistically significant mediating effect. These results
highlight the influence of contextual factors on the workplace spirituality–
engagement relationship. The study recommends integrating mindfulness practices
into HR strategies to cultivate spiritually enriched and engaging work environments
for nurses. It further calls for the development of HRM frameworks tailored to Sri
Lanka’s healthcare sector and encourages future research on alternative
psychological mediators in healthcare engagement studies.
