Measuring the dynamics of grace at work

ABSTRACT

Long studied in religious traditions, grace has also been explored in psychology and in contexts as diverse as marriage counseling, psychotherapy, and anthropology. We establish that most of the Dimensions of Grace Scales (DGS) work well, with some adjustments, in a religiously diverse group of employees from a variety of work organizations. We develop and refine three measures: grace from bosses, grace from co-workers, and respondents’ own grace-giving practice. We establish an initial nomological net for the construct of grace in the workplace, drawing on aspects of the DGS, grace from co-workers, grace from bosses, and grace-giving, along with trait kindness and forgiveness. We identify several relationships between this group of constructs and thriving at work (both vitality and learning), job satisfaction and intent to quit. The model suggests a workplace climate of grace is both life-giving and likely related to organizational performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Spirituality
• grace
• work
• favor
• kindness
• forgiveness
• thriving

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Saint Ambrose University Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Alumni Scholarship.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) have no personal or professional interests that might conflict with the development or publication of this research.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA. The approval number is 2,122,466.

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so because of the nature of the research, supporting data are not available.

Financial support

Generous financial support was provided by St. Ambrose University DBA Alumni Fellowship Fund

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the St. Ambrose University DBA Alumni Fellowship Fund.