Leadership in this volatile time is of the utmost importance, specifically in the post coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phase, as there is no doubt that the workplace will never be the same again. Batistic et al. (2017) (even before the pandemic) were of the view that leadership should be viewed and analysed from a multilevel perspective and from varying angles, which often relate to the context in which leadership takes place. The context in which leadership is performed is even more complicated by globalisation, which often leads to the intermingling of contextual realities. However, regardless of the context, it is argued that humble and relational focused leadership is essential in times of crisis, as it cultivates resilience, perseverance and ultimately individual wellness (Giurge et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2019). They are of the view that the pandemic has exposed the power that leaders have on their followers. This can be seen in a negative light, but it can also have a positive outcome, specifically when leaders adopt a more subtle and humane attitude towards followers, which is important for recovery from the effects of the pandemic on the workplace.

It is against this backdrop that spiritual leadership (SpL) is proposed as an alternative leadership construct. Spiritual leadership is regarded as important under normal circumstances (Van Der Walt & De Klerk, 2014) and even more so during a crisis (and the recovery, post the crisis). Spiritual leadership will enhance the followers’ wellness because it embraces ethics and honesty and empowers followers in succeeding to achieve fulfilment, higher purpose and ultimately self-actualisation (Ferguson & Milliman, 2008).

However, according to Blasco et al. (2012), there is a grave need to develop the SpL construct that will withstand both academic and empirical scrutiny. Locally (within the South African context), the theory of SpL, which was developed by Fry (2003), has not gained a foothold in empirical research. Work has been done in Europe and America with regards to SpL, but unfortunately, the results from this research have been used to generalise its applicability in other contexts largely disregarding local realities (Jepson, 2009). The challenge with this approach is that it has not been corroborated for the African context. According to Bush (2018), contexts shape the behaviours, attitudes and values of leaders. Homogenising the applicability of SpL is a concern that is addressed by this study, specifically for the South African context.

The tendency to homogenise various contexts is common under leadership scholars, typically using instruments from Western origin, which might be problematic when used in the South African (and broader African) context (Grobler & Singh, 2018). According to Nel et al. (2012), this approach implies the exploration of the applicability of a predominantly Western construct and instrument to a culturally diverse South African context. To bridge this gap, and to silence their conscience, an approach to adapt the existing instrument to the population (also called the etic approach) is adopted, also called instrument transportality (Grobler, 2017). The problem with that is that subtle nuances and more evident realities of the construct, determined and as a result of the context, might be overlooked. These realities are unique and should be recognised and respected, because according to Slabbert and Finlayson (2008, p. 13), ‘[South Africa is] a unique playground where the complexities of globalisation, colonialism and racism continue to be played out in the rich diversity of languages and cultures’. Du Preez and Van Zyl (2015) are of the opinion that considerable research needs to be conducted correctly, not only to identify emic organisational leadership behaviours but also on how to measure it, taking into consideration the South African context, thus adopting an emic conceptualisation and instrument development strategy or approach. The emic conceptualisation looks at the internal elements of SpL as opposed to the external scheme of SpL, for instance, what contextual elements will motivate a leader to be kind and passionate as opposed to looking at kindness as an outcome itself.

With regards to leadership studies in South Africa, Nkomo (2011) and Kasu (2017) are of the opinion that there is a demand for academic potency and merit to contextualise Westernised classical leadership theories and a need for the development of African leadership theories (Fourie et al., 2017).

The main objective of the research is to develop and validate an SpL instrument, based on the work of Sibanda and Grobler (2023). The scale was developed using the information obtained through an interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) process, as developed by Northcutt and McCoy (2004).

In a structured literature review by the authors, it was found that the definition of Fry (2003), who is commonly seen as the seminal author in this field, is used by most scholars (55%) studying SpL. This definition can be summarised as a person’s sense of spiritual survival (by means of calling and membership) and being intrinsically motivated as a result of their values, attitudes and behaviours. According to Fry (2003), the concept of SpL typically consists of six distinct parts:

In the process to conceptualise SpL within the South African context, Sibanda and Grobler (2023) incorporated the concept of African Management Philosophies (AMP) into their IQA process. The IQA process generated 36 SpL affinities which were further grouped into 15 affinities through an axial coding process that used AMP thematic groups. African Management Philosophies present a diverse collection of concepts, which are not easily comparable. To simplify it, Marnewick et al. (2018) identified seven distinct behavioural elements associated with AMP, namely, solidarity, compassion, respect, dignity, humanness, caring and sharing. All these are elements of SpL. On a more societal level, Nkomo (2006) listed five distinct parts of AMP, namely traditionalism, communalism, co-operative teamwork, mythology and national culture. Traditionalism relates to adherence to accepted customs, beliefs and practices that shape accepted behaviour, morality and individual characteristics in African societies. The IQA process conducted by Sibanda and Grobler (2023) identified traditionalism as associated with SpL affinity elements such as ethics, responsibility, credibility and accountability. Communalism relates to the African belief that individuals are not alone but belong to communities. The IQA process conducted by Sibanda and Grobler (2023) identified SpL affinities such as transparency, responsibility and corrective behaviour as associated with communalism. Co-operative teamwork relates to a spirit of oneness in the African context and Sibanda and Grobler’s (2023) IQA process identified that this element is linked to SpL affinities such as efficiency, communication, recognition, reward, participation and teamwork. Mythology relates to a collection of African myths, legends, folklore, folktales, folk stories and traditional stories. The IQA process conducted by Sibanda and Grobler (2023) identified creativity as an SpL affinity that is associated with this AMP element. National culture is defined by Nkomo (2011) as an AMP element that refers to a set of behaviours, norms, customs and beliefs in a sovereign nation’s population. The focus group that participated in the IQA process identified that South Africa as a ‘rainbow nation’ embraces different cultures and beliefs, but central to national values are principles of diligence, self-awareness, self-drive and vision.

Mutabazi (2002) is of the view that AMP consists of typically two common social principles, namely concept of life as a universal current and human connection to nature. Life as a universal current relates to the idea of universal fellowship. Leaders therefore identify themselves and their followers in the never-ending cycle of life. They are thus not only worried about tasks but also acutely aware of the human element that goes with the completion of those tasks. The SpL affinities that were identified by the IQA process relating to this AMP element were compassion, empathy and trust. Connection to nature relates to the African belief that humans have a cosmic connection to nature. The SpL affinities that were identified through the IQA process conducted by Sibanda and Grobler (2023) identified nurturing and authenticity as SpL affinities related to this AMP element. An important element of AMP, linked to many of the aspects listed earlier, is the concept of Ubuntu, cited by many a scholar (Mangaliso, 2001; Masango, 2003; Mbigi, 1996; Newman, 2017; Grobler & Singh, 2018). This is defined by Mangaliso (2001) as follows:

Moreover, Nkomo (2006, p. 13) states that ‘Ubuntu is seen as an important value of African culture that can form the basis of a management truly congruent with the peoples of Africa’.

Based on the work of Sibanda and Grobler (2023), an 18-item SpL instrument was developed. It is included in Table 1, with the identified SpL IQA affinities and AMP themes. This was largely through a focus group that linked through an axial coding process the various AMP elements with the SpL affinities.

Based on the results of their study (as summarised under SpL IQA affinities, and AMP themes in Table 1), Sibanda and Grobler (2023) proposed a summative definition for SpL within the South African organisational context. They define it as the values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders that capture the collective conscience of others by recognising the whole being at work through nurturing, compassion, empathy and trust. It is a causal theory that starts with connection to nature which influences life as a universal current, which influences the spirit of Ubuntu, which is also influenced by both national culture and indigenous knowledge systems. The spirit of Ubuntu influences intrinsic motivation which is influenced by traditionalism and communalism. Intrinsic motivation influences co-operative teamwork which is influenced by engagement, performance, productivity and mythology. Co-operative teamwork influences employee turnover, which finally influences employee welfare.

A positivistic paradigm was adopted for the purposes of this study, using a cross-sectional design, in which the data were collected through the use of a survey technique, at a single point in time, and a quantitative analysis.

The population of the study is the South African workforce employed in organisations with 60 or more employees, across the country, without any focus on a specific province or industry. The respondents of this study were conveniently selected, in terms of access to 90 organisations, 48 from the private and 42 from the public sector, respectively, with a total of 5344 respondents. Only valid responses (without any missing values) are reported, which resulted in a final dataset of n = 5308.

The study was thus multisectorial, with respondents from the private sector forming 54% of the overall sample and with 46% from the public sector. The representation of the gender groups was higher for females at 53% compared to 47% for males. The mean age of the respondents was 38.50 years (standard deviation [SD] = 8.66), and the mean tenure in the specific organisation was 9.25 years (SD = 7.44). The distribution in terms of race represents the characteristics of the South African workforce in general, with the respondents from the African race group being the highest represented with 66%, followed by the white, mixed race and Indian race groups with 16%, 12% and 6%, respectively.

Forty percent of the respondents indicated that their highest qualification is that of a first degree or diploma followed by a higher degree (35%) and matric (21%). In order to provide relatively accurate opinions about their perceptions of leadership in their organisations, the sample should reflect an average age, tenure and educational level according to Grobler and Singh (2018). The sample descriptives as mentioned earlier show that the respondents, in general, are mature, experienced and educated.

Data were collected by means of a newly developed SpL instrument, consisting of 18 items (see items in Table 1), based on the results of the IQA process by Sibanda and Grobler (2023). Typical items read ‘My leader cares about people in the true sense of Ubuntu’, ‘My leader shows compassion through nurturing’. A five-point Likert scale was chosen to measure the responses to each item. In line with common practice and to avoid the challenges of a neutral or undecided option, the responses to the statements formed a five-point continuum from ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘uncertain or not applicable’, ‘disagree’ and ‘strongly disagree’. The self-reporting instrument was completed by means of paper and pencil and was administered by 90 well-trained fieldworkers at the respective organisations. The fieldworkers were responsible for the capturing of the responses in a predeveloped, protected spreadsheet. The overall dataset was compiled through the consolidation of all the fieldworkers’ input.

The statistical analysis was performed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 25), supported by SPSS Amos (Analysis of Moment Structures, version 25) (IBM, 2017).

Item and variable screening were done to ensure that there were no missing values in the dataset. Unengaged responses were also identified and eliminated by the inspection of the standard deviation of cases (SD < 0.50). From the data cleaning process, it was deducted that the missing values were very sparse (less than 7% of the cases were deleted) and they were therefore not considered a main contributor to any bias. Kurtosis and the central limit theorem were further used to screen the data and to determine the distribution of the data.

The first step to evaluate the appropriateness to do an EFA was to determine the item-to-respondent ratio. Meyers et al. (2013) consider an item to respondent ratio of ±1:20 as acceptable. Bartlett’s test of sphericity (Hair et al., 2019) was used to inspect the intercorrelations between items. The value for the Bartlett’s test of sphericity should be significant (p < 0.05) for an EFA to be considered an appropriate technique (Hair et al., 2019). A further test was applied to determine whether an EFA could be performed, namely the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO). The rationale for this test is to determine whether the items correlated sufficiently; a minimum level of 0.60 is set for this statistic by Tabachnick and Fidell (2013).

Principal axis factoring with Oblimin rotation was used to aid in the interpretation of the initial results. The Guttman-Kaiser eigenvalue greater-than-one rule (K1 rule), together with the scree plot (with specific reference to the shape of the curve), as well as the Monte Carlo PCA for parallel analysis were conducted to decide on the number of variables (factors) to be retained. Meyers et al. (2013) indicate that a guide for variance accounted for by the factors needs to meet the lower limit of 50%. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was determined, taking into consideration that the general rule according to Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) is α > 0.70.

A CFA was conducted to operationalise the SpL construct. Various fit indexes, including the comparative fit index (CFI), the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), Chi-square (χ2) and the ratio of the differences in Chi-square to the differences in degrees of freedom (χ2/df) are used to assess the model fit. Given that there is no one acceptable cutoff value for what constitutes adequate fit, it was elected to evaluate the model and to recommend the model. The CFA index values, recommended by Byrne (2016) are 0.90 for CFI value, an RMSEA value of 0.05 and in terms of the χ2/df, a ratio of less than 5.00. The option to use only these indexes is supported by Cheung and Rensvold (2002) who regard it as a suitable indication of good fit.

Convergent validity of the items was assessed by the composite reliability (CR) and the average variance extracted (AVE), with critical values of > 0.70 and < 0.50, respectively. An inspection into the difference between AVE and the maximum shared variance (MSV) was conducted to assess the discriminant validity. Proof of discriminant validly would be apparent when MSV < AVE and where the average shared variance (ASV) is less than the AVE (Hair et al., 2019).

Measurement invariance implies that using the same questionnaire in different groups does measure the same construct in the same way (Davidov et al., 2014). Invariance measurement at a sector level was looked at from a configural, metric and scalar perspective.

At the configural level, we tested whether the same items measure the construct across sectors. The result of this assessment was that configural invariance was supported, as evidenced by acceptable model statistics when groups are estimated freely, that is, without constraints. Metric invariance builds upon configural invariance by requiring that in addition to the contructs being measured by the same items, the factor loadings of those items must be equivalent across administrations, often reffered to as weak invariance. The approach used to test for metric invariance as noted by Putnick and Bornstein (2016) is the alternative fit (change in fit indices). For purposes of this research, the change in deltas or alternative fit test was used to test for invariance. Scalar invariance builds upon metric invariance by requiring that the item intercepts be equal across administrations and/or sectors. Scalar invariance implies that the meaning of the construct (the factor loadings) and the levels of the underlying items (intercepts) are equal in groups. Consequently, groups can be compared on their scores on the latent variable. The approach that was adopted to assess whether the data have any scalar invariance was the alternative fit (change in fit indices) approach.

Convergent validity of the SpL construct, as measured by the newly developed 18-item instrument, was determined by assessing the correlation between SpL and several other cognate leadership constructs that were measured in a similar manner. It was hypothesised, supported by previous studies and literature, that SpL is related to other leadership styles that are also based on the softer humane aspects of leadership, such as Ubuntu leadership (Grobler & Singh, 2018; Powell & Grobler, 2021), servant leadership (Grobler & Flotman, 2021; Liden et al., 2015), authentic leadership (Walumbwa et al., 2008), transformational leadership (Podsakoff et al., 1990), ethical leadership (Yukl et al., 2013), and a negative relationship with transactional leadership (Avolio et al., 1999). A correlation of 0.40 is regarded to be an indication of convergence, with 0.50 and higher a clear sign of convergence (Cohen et al., 2013).

An application for ethical approval was made to UNISA School of Business Leadership Research Ethics Review Committee and ethics consent was received on 23 June 2022. The ethics approval number is (GSBL CRERC) – 2022_SBL_DBL_015_SD. Permission from each of the organisations and consent by all the participants were obtained. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or non-profit sectors.

This study’s contribution to science, practice and the community is based on the importance of the SpL construct when leading people, especially when it is viewed from an AMP perspective, which really defines the leadership philosophy in the South African (and African) context. This study further addresses the need for a reliable and valid instrument that is developed from an emic perspective, thus being context-specific and relevant. This study presents an 18-item SpL instrument that meets all the psychometric criteria and it is further suitable to be used within organisations, regardless of the sector.

The use of a cross-sectional design might be viewed as a limitation, as it might result in little knowledge in terms of how the process unfolds over time and on the direction of causality. This limitation can, however, be addressed through the use of different techniques and study designs, for instance, the use of qualitative techniques, such as IQA.

It is suggested that this instrument be applied to various organisational and industry settings within South Africa to test the invariance reported in this study. It is further recommended that the instrument be used with other organisational behaviour and industrial psychology constructs to determine possible relationships that could be used for organisational development experts for the development of interventions.