The impact of workplace spirituality, leadership, and work-life balance on the job performance of women officers in the Sri Lanka Air Force

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of workplace spirituality, leadership, and work-life balance on a sample of 73 female officers in the Sri Lanka Air Force. While research on military organizations in developing countries is sparse, it is exceedingly so when the sample consists exclusively of women Air Force officers, given their limited representation in a typical Air Force. The study assesses if a spiritual approach is effective in increasing the engagement of women officers with their jobs, which in turn, enhances job performance. Data was collected from 73 female officers in the Sri Lanka Air Force using scales for workplace spirituality, leadership, work-life balance, employee engagement, and job performance designed by the authors. Structural Equations Modeling using the PLS-SEM software was employed to analyze the data. Workplace spirituality and work-life balance significantly influenced job performance with mediation by employee engagement. Leadership, in contrast, failed to have a significant impact on job performance in the mediated model. Spirituality-based approaches that promote workplace spirituality and work-life balance may be successfully employed by the military to engage women flying officers to motivate them to improve job performance.