Original Research

Innovative behaviour in religious-based theory of planned behaviour perspective

Noor Arifin, Eko N. Fuad, Ali Muhson

Received: 26 Oct. 2021; Accepted: 22 Apr. 2022; Published: 23 June 2022

Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the effect of spiritual leadership (SL) and work-life balance (WLB) on innovative behaviour with employee engagement (EE) as a mediating variable in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) perspective.

Design/methodology/approach: Cluster sampling was used to gather a sample of 200 private employees. A questionnaire was used to collect data, which was then analysed using the structural equation model (SEM).

Findings: Spiritual leadership has a positive effect on innovative behaviour, WLB has a positive effect on innovative behaviour, SL has a positive effect on EE, WLB has a positive effect on EE, EE has a positive effect on innovative behaviour and EE mediates the effect of SL and WLB on innovative behaviour.

Research limitation/implication: It is necessary to apply innovative behaviour from a religious-based TPB perspective so that the intention to work is based on religious values in work interaction relationships.

Practical implications: The need of a sincere attitude in the workplace must be socialised to employees so that it becomes a daily attitude and a work guide; leaders become role models (uswah) in straightening intents at work.

Originality/value: This study contributes to this research area by developing and examining an integrative conceptual framework of innovative behaviour in religious organisation.

Keywords: spiritual leadership; work-life balance; innovative behaviour; employee engagement; theory of planned behaviour.

Introduction

Tough business competition and the dynamics of today’s world require companies to innovate and change, because innovation has a big role in the development of increasingly advanced technology (Smith & Tushman, 2005). There are two choices for companies today, namely, not competing or having to innovate.

Innovating could lead to business success for the organisation (Scott & Bruce, 2017). Innovation affects the company’s performance and the sustainability of competitive advantage. Human resources is an important part that supports and runs the innovation process of the organisation. Yuan and Woodman (2017) concluded that employee innovation behaviour is an important factor for the company’s success in a fairly dynamic business environment. Consequently, it is very important for companies to have employees who are able to generate, improve and implement new ideas in the workplace to improve personal or organisational performance (Scott & Bruce, 2017). Employee-generated innovation is one of the best ways to drive innovation and organisational success (Mytelka & Smith, 2002).

Innovative behaviour (IB) emphasises the existence of a creative attitude so that there is a process of changing attitudes that have not progressed to attitudes that are already advanced. Price (1997) added that IB is an individual’s ability to change the way of working in the form of adopting new procedures, practices and work techniques in completing tasks and work. Therefore, companies are required to produce new assessments, new ideas and offer innovative products and improve service performance that satisfies customers. People who have creative personal characteristics also have cognitive abilities (West & Farr, 1989). Innovative behaviour includes innovation in products, services and work processes in organisations (Allameh, Pool, Jaberi, Salehzadeh, & Asadi, 2015).

In improving the IB of employees, each organisation has a different way (Martins & Terblanche, 2003). According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), behavioural intention is produced from a combination of attitude toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 2002). Any action a person takes is influenced by behavioural beliefs (beliefs about the probable consequences of the practiced behaviour), normative beliefs (beliefs about the normative expectations of other people) and control beliefs (beliefs about the presence of factors that may enable or obstruct the performance of the behaviour) (Arafat & Mohamed Ibrahim, 2018). Behavioural control depends on the individual’s perception of how difficult it is going to be to engage in the behaviour (Mimiaga, Reisner, Reilly, Soroudi, & Safren, 2009). The TPB argues that an individual who has high perceived behavioural control with respect to a particular behaviour is more likely to form the intention to perform that behaviour and more likely to act on that intention in the face of obstacles and setbacks than someone who is low in perceived behavioural control (Manstead, 2001).

The leader is the originator of the idea of goals, planning, organising, mobilising and controlling all organisational resources so that goals could be achieved effectively and efficiently (Luthans, 2006). In improving the IB of employees, each organisation has a different way (Martins & Terblanche, 2003). To come up with new ideas and multitasking processes, employees need support from organisational leaders in providing opportunities to produce quality products (Amabile, Schatzel, Moneta, & Kramer, 2004). According to Barney and Griffin (1992), in the human resource management function, the most important thing in an organisation is managing innovative individual work behaviours in order to carry out their obligations to help achieve organisational goals. Individuals as employees are not robots whose behaviour could be controlled mechanically. The leaders of the organisation must know and understand every situation that can affect the formation of individual behaviour in the organisation. Innovation in the organisation cannot be separated from the role of leaders in the organisation. Leadership style is very influential in developing IB of employees. Existing leadership models still view that the nature of leadership is considered a mandate from humans (for subordinates) yet see leadership as a mandate from God and also humans. Followers in the organisation are driven by material and altruistic appeal by ignoring the values of being exemplary, inspiring, empowering and humanising. Consequently, the performance achieved is solely for organisational purposes and not human responsibility to God as khalifatullah fil ardhy (representative of God on earth, in the Islamic concept), so it is very important to encourage spiritual leadership (SL) (Syarif, Christiananta, Sulasmi, & Eliyana, 2014; Tobroni, 2015).

Work-life balance (WLB) can be a second antecedent factor. WLB could be described as a process in which employees try to combine their work with family responsibilities with full attention in order to create ‘balance’ (Crompton & Lyonette, 2016). Employees with a high level of engagement could further improve IB (Dreu, 2010; Park, Lee, & Kim, 2018).

The critical issue in this study is the importance of discussing IB comprehensively, because there is still little research on the influence of leadership and WLB on employee engagement (EE), as recommended by gap research (Iddagoda & Opatha, 2017). This research is also carried out in sharia-based business institutions so as to include the SL variable as a determinant of innovative leadership and is more focused on prophetic leadership (Saripudin, 2018; Tobroni, 2015) and including IB variables (Slåtten & Mehmetoglu, 2011; Wu & Wu, 2019) as a consequence variable of EE (Rich, Lepine, & Crawford, 2017; Saks & Gruman, 2014). Iddagoda and Opatha (2017), from empirical evidence, said:

[T]here is no empirical evidence about religiosity, high performance work practices (HPWPs), personal character, leadership and work life balance that significantly affect employee engagement in a nomological network in the Sri Lankan context as well as in the international context. (International Business Research, 2017, Vol. 10, No. 2)

There is a gap that empirical evidence found about how religiosity, HPWP (high performance work practice), personal character, leadership and WLB significantly affect EE in nomological networks in the Sri Lankan context as well as in the international context, and work engagement mediates the relationship between antecedents and consequences (Saks, 2019).

Literature review and hypothesis

The effect of spiritual leadership on innovative behaviour

Spiritual leadership is leadership that forms the values, attitudes and behaviours needed to motivate oneself and others (intrinsic motivation) so that they could achieve a sense of spiritual survival (Syarif et al., 2014). Employees will be able to carry out their big ideas because they are inspired by their leaders, and big minds would be more free if the sense of attachment to the company is better (Syarif et al., 2014). Afsar, Badir and Kiani (2016) revealed that SL was positively related to employee task performance, knowledge-sharing behaviour and employee innovation behaviour. Afsar and Badir (2017) showed that employees’ workplace spirituality was positively related to self and IB. Spirituality could be an important element in managing the work attitude of Generation Y workers creatively (Mahipalan & Sheena, 2019). As a result, the following hypothesis could be formulated:

H1: Spiritual leadership has a positive significant effect on innovative behaviour.

The effect of work-life balance on innovative behaviour

Marks and MacDermid (1996) explained WLB as an individual’s tendency to be truly committed to performing in each role taken. This is in line with Greenhaus, Collins and Shaw (2003) that WLB is the extent to which individuals feel bound to and satisfied with their work life and family life and are able to balance work and family obligations. Work-life balance occurs when individuals can create the right roles at work and in the family with a low level of role conflict, so that they will be free to create and innovate in order to come up with big ideas in the workplace (Purohit, 2013). Kishino and Hirano (2016) alluded that WLB greatly affects the creativity of an entrepreneur to leverage the power of business innovation. For that reason, the following hypothesis could be formulated:

H2: Work-life balance has a positive significant effect on innovative behaviour.

The effect of spiritual leadership on employee engagement

Concerning efforts to improve employee work resources, it is important for leaders to provide support, autonomy and feedback to meet the basic psychological needs of employees so as to increase their work engagement (Rahmadani, Schaufeli, Ivanova, & Osin, 2019). Empirical research from Wang, Guo, Ni, Shang and Tang (2019) has explored the effectiveness of SL on employee task performance, knowledge sharing behaviour and innovation behaviour at the individual level, which could bind employees to the organisation. Leadership by encouraging subordinates to feel satisfied at work has a direct effect on EE, loyalty and intention to stay afloat (Book, Gatling, & Kim, 2019). Rahim (2014) concluded that SL and EE have a simultaneous effect on employee performance. Saripudin and Rosari (2019) researched that SL with values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders had a significant positive effect on the meaning or vocation of life and employee social membership in increasing work engagement (Fry, 2003); however, in terms of membership, that does not affect work engagement (Saripudin, 2018). Leadership with a unique style (spiritual virtue values) is strongly associated with engagement (employees are more attached to their organisation) (Wang et al., 2019). From the explanations of various empirical studies, the following hypothesis shall be formulated:

H3: Spiritual leadership has a positive significant effect on work engagement.

The effect of work-life balance on employee engagement

Work-life balance could be described as a process in which employees try to combine their work with family responsibilities with great care in order to create ‘balance’ (Crompton & Lyonette, 2016). Empirical research related to WLB from Munn (2013) inferred WLB leverages EE on strength (e.g. energy and stimulation), absorption (e.g. engagement and interest) and dedication (e.g. meaning and significance). Mohd, Shah, Anwar and Mahzumi (2016) stated that the factors influencing EE are rewards, work environment and WLB. According to Benito-Osorio, Muñoz-Aguado and Villar (2014), WLB has a role in increasing EE. Bakker and Oerlemans (2016) stated that engagement has been shown to generate enthusiasm, which permeates the sphere of employee life, revealing that supportive work-life policies and perceived flexibility are positively related to EE. Oludayo, Falola, Obianuju and Demilade (2018) revealed that when employees get the opportunity to manage their personal lives well, they will positively increase their productivity and strengthen their engagement levels. As stated by Sheppard (2016), every organisation looking to exploit potential and achieve EE needs to see what the organisation has to do; if employees are safe from problems with other employees and family problems, they will be able to concentrate on improving employee abilities so that it has an impact on organisational performance (Ali, Sabir, & Mehreen, 2019). Based on these studies, the following hypothesis shall be formulated:

H4: Work-life balance has a positive significant effect on employee engagement.

The effect of employee engagement on innovative behaviour

Prieto and Pérez-Santana (2014) suggested that employees who feel attached to the company carry out not only their standard roles, but also extra roles; they are willing to experiment, leading to the creation of new ideas and new solutions, particularly IB (Agarwal, Agarwal, & Mallick, 2014). Innovative employees could have ideas about how to motivate themselves by engaging them in realistic work situations. However, to realise their ideas, employees need support. Therefore, EE in this process is very important (Messmann, Mulder, & Gruber, 2010). Empirical support from Schmitt, Hartog and Belschak (2016) confirmed that employees who are engaged could give high value and care for their work, showing more innovation (multiple works). Employees who feel engaged tend to have more IB because they are emotionally, cognitively and physically alert in their workplace (Kahn, 2017). The argument for the relationship between job involvement and IB is also supported by previous studies showing that highly engaged employees tend to be highly active, open-minded and out-of-the-box thinkers, and they tend to put in extra effort, find new patterns of reaction and break down formal modes of thinking (Eldor, 2017). Research by Slåtten and Mehmetoglu (2011) linked the effect of work engagement with IB. This study refers to IB as the application of useful ideas in work roles. Engaged employees have high energy levels and are very enthusiastic about their work. Research findings by Messmann et al. (2010) and Slåtten and Mehmetoglu (2011) revealed that work engagement is closely related to raised IB. Park et al. (2018) showed that employees’ perceptions of Corporate social responsibility (CSR) about customers and employees significantly and positively affect work engagement, which in turn positively affects their IB. Singh, David and Mikkilineni (2017) identified different patterns of work engagement amongst participants with the innovation team over time in a related manner. However, team innovation increased in high engagement classes and decreased slightly in medium and low work engagement classes. Based on this discussion, the following hypothesis could be formulated:

H5: Employee engagement has a positive significant effect on innovative behaviour.

Spiritual leadership affects innovative behaviour through employee engagement

Wang et al. (2019) revealed that SL is positively related to employee task performance, knowledge-sharing behaviour and innovation behaviour, from moral leadership, kind leadership and increased supervision, and when employees are involved, SL could improve organisational performance. Research by Afsar et al. (2016) showed that employees’ workplace spirituality was positively related to self-esteem, and supervisor ratings of IB and perceived sense of attachment acted as partial mediators between workplace spirituality and innovative work behaviour. These results imply that an employee’s experience of spirituality in the workplace has an impact on his perception, which in turn helps engage him to display IB more often. Mahipalan and Sheena (2019) showed that there was a significant relationship between spirituality and work and organisational engagement. Based on the findings, it is reasonable to assume that spirituality could be an important element in managing the work attitudes of creative Generation Y workers. Employees will be able to carry out their big ideas because they are inspired by organisational leaders who hold spiritual values. Therefore, big minds will be more free if the sense of attachment to the company is better, based on passion, dedication and fun at work (work engagement component). Based on this discussion, the following hypothesis could be formulated:

H6: Spiritual leadership affects innovative behaviour through employee engagement.

Work-life balance affects innovative behaviour through employee engagement

Purohit (2013) stated that WLB is a concept of balancing roles between career and lifestyle, including health, happiness, family and spiritual development. In the study, it is said that WLB occurs when individuals could create appropriate roles at work and in the family with low levels of role conflict, so that they will freely create and innovate to bring up big ideas at work. The outcome of the research from Ong and Jeyaraj (2014) showed that participants in the WLB condition experienced higher levels of cognitive dissonance compared to participants in the harmonious-life balance condition. Secondly, the findings also suggest that WLB interventions will have a more positive impact on individual creativity in the workplace. Wilkinson, Tomlinson and Gardiner (2018) researched with the results that WLB and flexible work arrangements, in relation to other aspects of the work engagement relationship, have opportunities for career development and advancement. Employees will be able to carry out their big ideas and experience an established and harmonious WLB between work and family, so their big ideas will be more free if the sense of attachment to the company is stronger, based on self-attachment (with passion, dedication and fun) in work. Based on this discussion, the following hypothesis could be formulated:

H7: Work-life balance affects innovative behaviour through employee engagement.

Research methods

Respondents and research location

This research was conducted in [information redacted to maintain the integrity of the review process] who are members of ASKOWANU (NU Citizens’ Cooperative Association), located in 16 districts of Central Java. The target respondents in this study were [information redacted to maintain the integrity of the review process] employees, totalling 207 employees. The unit of analysis in this study is the individual (person).

Sampling method

This study uses multistage sampling. The first is the cluster stage: because the geographical area is large and wide, the researcher divides the entire population into subdistricts or clusters. There are 10 districts (clusters), so the next step is to select the subdistrict with the highest population and filter the population based on simple random sampling.

Data collection techniques

This type of research is quantitative research with primary data sources derived from respondents’ responses. Data collection was carried out using an electronic questionnaire with Google Form survey administration software. The questionnaire model developed by the researcher uses a Likert scale with five answer intervals. The SL variable adapted by Adz-Dzakiyaey and Bakran (2005) in Tobroni (2015) is measured by four indicator items. The WLB variable, according to Hill et al. (2001), is measured by nine indicator items. The EE variable, according to Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá and Bakker (2002), is measured by nine items. The IB variable, according to De Jong and Den Hartog (2010), is measured by six indicator items. The average score of the SL variable is 4.58; the WLB variable is 4.54; the EE variable indicator is 4.48; and variable IB is 4.57, all variables in the category ‘strongly agree’.

Research variables

The independent variables (exogenous) in this study are SL and WLB. Meanwhile, EE is a mediator variable (mediation), and the dependent variable (endogenous) is IB.

Data analysis

Data analysis used structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to prove validity, estimate reliability and test hypotheses. The fit model test uses several criteria, namely, chi square, RMSEA, GFI and AGFI. The criteria used are p chi-square > 0.05, RMSEA < 0.08, GFI > 0.9 and AGFI > 0.9 (Vieira, 2011).

Proof-of-construct validity is also used in this study, especially for the instrument in the form of a situational test. The analytical technique used is confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Validity testing is done by looking at convergent validity (CV) and discriminant validity. Convergent validity is declared good if the loading factor value is significant at 5% (Ferdinand, 2014; Stevens, 2012) and loading factor is more than 0.7 (Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2017). Discriminant validity is met if the correlation coefficient between constructs is smaller than the root of the average variance extracted (AVE) (Hair et al., 2017).

The reliability estimate used is construct reliability (CR). The reliability estimate is declared good if the CR value is above 0.70 (Ferdinand, 2014; Hair et al., 2017; Teo, 2010).

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Results

Model fit

From a total of 207 respondents, only 200 respondents could be processed and analysed, because only these respondents had met the criteria and answered the electronic questionnaire completely. The results of the SEM analysis can be briefly seen in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1: Research model.

The results of the model fit test found that the value of p = 0.997, RMSEA < 0.001 GFI = 0.913, AGFI = 0.897. These findings indicate that all the criteria have been met, so the model developed in this study is already fit with the data.

Validity and reliability

Proof of validity is done in two ways, namely, convergent and discriminant validity. The results of the validation of the validity as measured by factor loading found that all values exceed 0.7, AVE values exceed 0.5 and all AVE root values also exceed correlation amongst constructs (see Table 1). Thus it could be said that all items and constructs developed to measure all variables proved valid. For the estimation of reliability as shown in Table 1, it was found that all CR values exceeded 0.7, so it could be concluded that the developed instrument was proven to be reliable.

Hypothesis testing

Testing the hypothesis in the form of a direct effect is done by looking at the p values. The alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted if the p value is lower than 0.05. Meanwhile, testing the indirect effect or mediation is carried out using the Sobel test with the criteria that if the t value exceeds 1.96 then mediation occurs (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

Discussion

The effect of spiritual leadership on innovative behaviour

The results of testing the first hypothesis (H1) found that the coefficient value was 0.244 with p = 0.002. This shows that SL has a positive effect on IB. This study supports the results of previous research conducted by Afsar et al. (2016), Khan, Ismail, Hussain and Alghazali (2020), Mahipalan and Sheena (2019), Özsungur (2020), Syarif et al. (2014), Wang et al. (2019), Weng, Huang, Chen and Chang (2015), Zhang and Yang (2020) and Zhou and Yang (2020), who found that there was a significant influence of SL to IB. Alimuddin (2019) states that SL is a leader who does not view his or her position as the highest position so that it requires excellent service from his or her subordinates, but views it as a mandate (as a caliph) to serve, cultivate and manage his or her subordinates so that they could achieve success together. Spiritual leadership has the character of true honesty, fairness, focus on virtuous deeds, hatred of formality and organised religion, working more efficiently with less talk and being more relaxed, being open to accepting change, being a leader who is loved and certainly loving those who are led and having humility (Tobroni, 2015). These findings indicate that SL is proven to be effective as a predictor of employee IB.

There have not been many studies using SL variables as modifications in predicting IB variables and SL variables using prophetic leadership indicators through siddiq [honest], amanah [trustworthy], tabligh [delivering] and fathonah [intelligent], adapting research from Tobroni (2015) with modifications according to the context of this study in Islamic financial institutions. The results of this study indicate that employees have a perception that SL is capable of significantly driving IB.

The TPB perspective explains that behaviour is formed because of intention, where intention is influenced by attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 1991). The leader of an institution has the task of bringing the institution to realise its vision, mission and goals by motivating employees so that employees who work in the company must be treated with the intention of worship (doing work for Allah or God). Belief in work is part of religious obligations and orders or religious values (behaviour control); therefore, with real intentions, work must be more productive and have high performance. The values of Islamic leaders in the organisation will become the culture within the organisation, being more innovative and productive so that employees always present an attitude of enthusiasm (vigour), dedication and appreciation (absorption) in work.

The effect of work-life balance on innovative behaviour

The results of testing the second hypothesis (H₂) showed that WLB has a positive effect on IB with a coefficient of 0.354 and p < 0.001, which means the second hypothesis (H₂) is accepted. This finding is supported by research done by Adisa, Abdulraheem and Isiaka (2019), Choi (2021), Ong and Jeyaraj (2014), Purohit (2013) and Wan and Liu (2020), who found that there was a significant effect between WLB on IB. The strength of the respondents’ WLB indicator as a behavioural belief encourages the birth of work behaviour based on the TPB that the intention to work is to earn a living for the family, according to the hadith of Abu Hurairah’s friend, Rasulullah SAW, which said:

‘[… T]hat jihad [struggle] in the way of Allah is not only being killed [in war], whoever works to support his parents is in the way of Allah, whoever works to support his family is in the way of Allah, but whoever work for luxury [increase wealth] then he is on the path of taghut [besides God].’ (HR Thabrani)

Supporting the family from work, including alms, the responsibility of working to provide for one’s family will bear rewards and blessings and get a good reward from God (Allah). Agustian (2001) stated that people who have WLB intelligence would be able to choose correctly, prioritise everything correctly and carry out all their activities based on the intention to work for God (Allah), who is certainly worth worship.

The effect of spiritual leadership on employee engagement

The third hypothesis (H₃) stated that SL has a positive effect on EE. The test results found a coefficient value of 0.329 (p < 0.001), which means H₃ is accepted. This finding supports the results of previous research conducted by Batista-Taran, Shuck, Gutierrez and Baralt (2009), Chahardeh and Chegini (2015), De Hoogh and Den Hartog (2008), Fry and Kriger (2009), Fry and Nisiewicz (2020), Markow and Klenke (2005), Robinson, Perryman and Hayday (2004), Saripudin (2018), Saripudin and Rosari (2019), Sheikh et al. (2019) and Wang et al. (2019). Spiritual leadership (altruistic hope and love) and intentions and respect for employees could affect their attachment to the organisation.

In the perspective of TPB, the relationship between SL and EE could be interpreted that employees who are religious (hold strong religious values) have a level of obedience (must obey) to ulil amri [commanding leaders], as in QS An Nisa’ ayat 59: ‘… And obey ulil amri amongst you’. The intention to obey the leader will result in a high level of attachment to the organisation (Tobroni, 2015). Leadership in the style of the Prophet(s) that is siddiq [honest], amanah [trustworthy], tabligh [delivering] and fathonah [intelligent] will further strengthen employee moral values and increase behaviour bound to the organisation (Tasmara, 2006).

The effect of work-life balance on employee engagement

This study also proves that WLB has a positive effect on EE with a coefficient of 0.335 (p < 0.001). This study supports the results of previous research conducted by Bakker and Oerlemans (2016), Benito-Osorio et al. (2014), Larasati, Hasanati and Istiqomah (2019), Mohd et al. (2016), Munn (2013), Oludayo et al. (2018), Sheppard (2016) and Sonnentag (2003). Work-life balance has a role in increasing EE.

From the perspective of TPB, the subjective norm of support from other parties illustrates that individual beliefs could encourage good work intentions because the ASKOWANU institution has facilitated through flexible, humanist rules, so that the perception of individual employee behaviour control will be easy to implement the institution’s formal rules. This makes the employee’s life balance at work and in family life run well. In the context of WLB, positive outcomes are not in the form of financial or material benefits, but more psychological benefits such as inner peace or religious benefits like the belief of employees in the ASKOWANU environment that they could get God’s reward and love. This is in line with Islamic teachings regarding work rules. According to Agustian (2001), people with WLB intelligence will be able to choose correctly, prioritise everything correctly and carry out all their activities based on intentions because of Allah (religious value).

The effect of employee engagement on innovative behaviour

Employee engagement is proven to have a positive effect on IB with a coefficient of 0.546 (p < 0.001), which means the fifth hypothesis (H₅) is accepted. This finding is supported by the results of previous research from Agarwal et al. (2014), Caniëls and Veld (2016), Messmann et al. (2010), Miller and Miller (2020), Özsungur (2020), Park et al. (2018), Prieto and Pérez-Santana (2014), Seppälä, Hakanen, Tolvanen and Demerouti (2018), Slåtten and Mehmetoglu (2011) and Spiegelaere, Gyes and Hootegem (2016), which stated that there is an effect of EE on IB or linking work engagement with IB.

The TPB perspective views that the relationship between EE and IB can be interpreted as that the employee’s intention to work is because of religious commandments. From an Islamic perspective, the Qur’an says, ‘work, and God will surely see your work, and His Messenger, and the believers, and you will be returned to Him who knows the unseen and the visible…’ (QS: At-Taubah; 105). Working creatively will bring rewards from God.

The effect of spiritual leadership on innovative behaviour through employee engagement

The results of testing the sixth hypothesis (H₆) shows that EE is proven to mediate the influence of SL on IB with a coefficient of 0.133 (p = 0.012). This means that this finding is supported by Afsar and Rehman (2015), Schaufeli et al. (2002), Syarif et al. (2014) and Wang et al. (2019); in the theory of reasoned action model, employees produce positive outcomes, namely, generating creative ideas (IB), which is a reaction to attitudes and behaviour of positive intentions from the attitude (behaviour of intention) which is shown through their innovations, giving rise to great ideas working in Islamic financial institutions. The subjective norm of support from other parties illustrates that individual employee beliefs could encourage good work because Islamic financial institutions have provided rewards (outputs), and then the institution applies a fair, trustworthy and intelligent leadership pattern (SL) so that it is stronger in intention (behaviour intention). Employees work to realise the best ideas in the institution (as actual behaviour). They want to realise their creative ideas all the more strongly if they are accompanied by feelings of enthusiasm (vigour) and a sense of dedication and deep work appreciation (absorption), which is very easy for employees to do (Schaufeli et al., 2002).

The effect of work-life balance on innovative behaviour through employee engagement

Another finding also proves that EE mediates the effect of WLB on IB with a coefficient 0.125 (p < 0.001). This finding is supported by previous researchers such as Adisa et al. (2019), Marks and MacDermid (1996), Ong and Jeyaraj (2014), Purohit (2013) and Schaufeli et al. (2002), who found that work-life balance greatly affects an employee’s creativity to leverage his or her work innovation power. Employees will be able to carry out their big ideas if they experience a well-established and harmonious WLB between work and family, and then big minds will become more free if their sense of attachment to the company is better. This shall be based on passion, dedication and fun at work.

According to TPB’s perspective, the relationship between WLB and IB through EE means that employees’ intention to work is to get a good life, but it must be emphasised that they require a high attachment. In the view of Islam as QS, An-Nahl in verse 97 says:

“Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, whilst he is a believer – we will surely cause him to live a good life, and we will surely give them their reward [in the hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.”

Then one time a young man asked Muawiyah: ‘How do you think that someone can have muru’ah [maintaining honor]?’ Muawiyah replied: ‘Expertise and creativity.’ Asked again: ‘What is muru’ah?’ ‘He is iffah [careful] in religion, and improves the profession.’ (Sunan al-Baihaqi)

Conclusion and implications

Conclusion

From the results of the study it could be concluded that all hypotheses proposed in this study are all supported. Spiritual leadership has a positive effect on IB, WLB has a positive effect on IB, SL has a positive effect on EE, WLB has a positive effect on EE, EE has a positive effect on IB and EE mediates the effect of SL and WLB on IB.

Implications

Theoretical implications

This study has succeeded in proving the ability to modify exogenous variables, SL and WLB, to predict IB through EE at ASKOWANU financial institutions. From two modified exogenous variables, it was found that SL and WLB could be an influence on IB. This means that the stronger the leadership of a leader to employees at the Islamic financial institution ASKOWANU, the more creativity and innovation would grow in the workplace. Creative attitudes could realise and develop new ideas for the best work in the workplace. Then the attitude of WLB greatly affects the creativity of an employee to leverage the innovation power of his work. Employees will be able to carry out their big ideas if they experience a well-established and harmonious WLB between work and family, and then big minds will become more free if they have a sense of attachment to the company. The attitude of work engagement, which is characterised by vigour (spirit), in Islam could be shown by the character of ikhlas, mujahadah an-nafs and istimrariyah (IMI). Iklhas is the intention to do charity (work) only because of Allah SWT; work means to uphold worship to Allah SWT in order to avoid things that are forbidden and in order to protect oneself from traits such as begging or being a burden or depending on others (ta’affufan an al-mas’alah). Mujahadah means sincerity in controlling something and an-Nafs means oneself, so mujahadah an-Nafs means seriousness in self-control (self-controlled attitude). Istimrariyah [continuity] means to be consistent, resilient and ready to face trials.

Employees of ASKOWANU Islamic financial institutions are required to work continuously, although sometimes boredom and despair appear, but with a sense of sincerity in working with the intention of worship, they could finally get the expected results in the form of a good career. And whoever works continuously (istimrar) will be loved by Allah SWT. A hadith from Aisyah r.a. says: ‘Verily, Allah loves someone who, when working, does it professionally (very skilled)’ (HR. Thabrani, no: 891, Baihaqi, no: 334). Carrying out a professional attitude, as demanded by Islamic financial institutions, needs to be cultivated and made customary to maximise potential in the workplace. Maximising the itqon [professional] attitude is an optimal effort, which is the principle and target of every charity that is carried out consistently by employees.

Managerial implications

To improve the effectiveness and optimisation of innovation behaviour in the perspective of Islamic value-based TPB in Islamic financial institutions, this study provides the following recommendations:

1. Socialising the importance of creative and innovative attitudes with Islamic understanding (the nature of itqon [professional]), completing work with smart and sincere effort, with the intention of worshipping employees so that it becomes a daily attitude and a work guideline.

2. Leaders become role models (uswah) in aligning intentions through self-control and heart when working with religious values. When you work by controlling your heart in the name of God, there is peace. The implication is that one must work with full awareness without the need for instructions from others, including the leadership.

3. Strengthening the role and support of structural leaders on the principle of TPB, which states that behaviour is formed as a result of intention and attitude toward the behaviour by incorporating elements of religiosity in ASKOWANU financial institutions; strengthening the role of managers (especially human resources) in work behaviour is based on the value of worship (carrying the role of God) whilst working in Islamic financial institutions.

Acknowledgements

Report Interpreted: The manuscript contains (17%) similarities with a published (Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business Vol 8 No 7 [2021] 0313–0322) entitled ‘(The Antecedent of Employee Engagement and Its Effect on Innovative Behaviour: A Religiosity-Based Social Exchange Theory [SET] Perspective)’ Refer: (https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO202118057822277.pdf).

Authors declare no competing interest exists.

All authors contributed equally to this work.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

References