SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE WITHIN THE CHOSEN PARAMETERS WITH A VIEW TO IDENTIFY A GAP FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Abstract

Spiritual leadership has been a concept which has gained attention for over two decades. Different scholars have looked at different aspects to elaborate its impact on the workplace, leaders, and followers. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a literature survey and to understand how “Spiritual Leadership” has been defined in the chosen literature, to identify the methodologies carried out in chosen literature, to recognize constructs associated with Spiritual Leadership research, and to identify research gaps in the literature related to “Spiritual Leadership”. In order to achieve the above objectives of this study, a comprehensive literature review was carried out on the Elsevier Scopus database. The search was started using the main keywords that were further narrowed down based on chosen inclusion criteria. An understanding of the Spiritual Leadership concept, different methodologies previous researchers have used, the type of constructs related were the findings of this study which enabled to unveil the gaps in existence. Lack of emphasis on the impact on the “leaders”, lack of examination on different antecedents, limited cross-sector studies, and limited usage of quantitative methodology and case studies were the gaps identified to be precise. This study was carried out as a foundation to identify the research gaps, to pave the way for a study which will add material empirical value to individuals as well as entities in the current, extremely volatile, and uncertain environment.