Spirituality and performance in public administration: catalyst or inhibitory effect

This paper seeks to demonstrate that spirituality has a direct positive effect on the performance of a public organization. Our methodological approach is mixed, following a hypothetico-deductive logic based on the theories of servant leadership and spiritual leadership. The data was collected through a questionnaire to 136 randomly selected public agents. The technique of structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships. The results indicate that spirituality, through levers such as Ethics, Work Behavior, Empathy, and Beliefs, positively influences organizational performance in terms of job satisfaction, motivation, and quality of service, though its effect on Respect for deadlines is negligible. Spirituality thus acts as a catalyst for performance.