Turnover Intention in Nigerian Universities: Do Academics’ Spirituality and the Spiritual Climate Matter?

Abstract

Spirituality research has attracted much interest in recent times, particularly among the management group of researchers, owing to the realisation that people come to work not with their hands and heads only but also with their spirit. The present study explores the intervening role of spiritual climate in the relationship between spirituality and turnover intentions among academics at tertiary institutions in Plateau State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted and 320 questionnaires out of the 500 administered were used. The data set collected was analysed using Smart-PLS to test the hypothesised relationships. The results reveal: (1) No relationship between spirituality and turnover intention; (2) Spirituality relates positively to and significantly with spiritual climate; (3) Spiritual climate significantly influences academics’ intention to leave; (4) Spiritual climate is found to mediate the relationship between spirituality and intention to quit. We situate our contribution in this paper to theory and practice.

Keywords:

• turnover intention
• spirituality
• spiritual climate
• academics
• Nigeria