WHY IS THE INFLUENCE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP ON ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS FOR CHANGE INSIGNIFICANT? THE MEDIATING ROLE OF WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY

The COVID-19 pandemic has exponentially accelerated the rate of change. Organizational readiness for change has become the mandatory requirement for most organizations to survive in this highly disrupted era. The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of servant leadership and the mediating role of workplace spirituality on organizational readiness for change. Offices within a private university in Indonesia were used as the population for this research. 80 respondents from 40 offices participated in this research by filling online questionnaires. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modelling software. The results show that servant leadership does not influence organizational readiness for change directly butis fully mediated through workplace spirituality. This paper contributes to the organizational change theory by providing insight into what aspect of servant leadership may be lacking for an extreme organizational change process. It is the first study that validates the role of workplace spirituality as the mediator of the relationship between servant leadership and organizational readiness for change.