Employees’ ritual sense in organization: a scale development study and effects of ritual sense on employee outcomes

• Main Author: LIANG, Jun
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: ritual sense; scale development; Organizational Behavior and Theory; Organization Development
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/330; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1328&context=etd_coll
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The present research is focused on the topic of organizational rituals. On the basis of reviewing existing studies of organizational rituals, the present investigation (1) developed the scale of employees’ ritual sense and (2) empirically tested the effects of ritual sense in impacting employees’ workplace consequences. Two independent studies were conducted to develop the scale of employees’ ritual sense and to investigate how and when ritual sense is associated with employees’ workplace outcomes. Specifically, using data collected from 418 employees in China, Study 1 develops and validates an individual level measure of employee’s ritual sense. Collecting another sample of 453 employees, Study 2 examines the role of ritual sense in impacting employees’ workplace consequences (i.e., affective commitment, role overload, and turnover intention). Study 2 also reveals how the effects of employee’s ritual sense on employee outcomes were transmitted by the increase of psychological resources (i.e., reduced negative mood, increased competence need satisfaction, and increased dedication at work), and how such effects are bounded by the characteristics of the focal ritual (i.e. frequency of the ritual, the priming process or the ritual, and the extent to which the ritual is work-related). Our findings suggest that ritual sense can serve as an effective intervention that facilitates favorable employee outcomes including increasing affective commitment to the organization, decreasing role overload and turnover intention. Based on our research findings, the present thesis also discusses theoretical and practical implications accordingly.