The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0959-6119.htm

Impact of
The impact of religiosity on religiosity on
political skill: evidence from political skill

Muslim hotel employees

in Turkey
Yao-Chin Wang Received 10 August 2020
Revised 3 November 2020
School of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas Fayetteville, 1 January 2021
Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA 2 January 2021
Accepted 5 January 2021
Christina Geng-Qing Chi
School of Hospitality Business Management,
Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman,
Washington, USA and School of Tourism and Hospitality,
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, and
Eren Erkılıç
Department of Tourism Management, Recep Tayyip Erdo
gan University,
Rize, Turkey

Abstract
Purpose – While former literature has shown that people have a strong tendency to seek religious support
during difficult times, knowledge gaps exist in how the mechanism of religiosity works to support employees’
mental status and performance. Therefore, based on self-categorization theory, this study aims to examine the
effects of employees’ intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on building their mental toughness and mindfulness
and the further formation of employees’ political skills.
Design/methodology/approach – Data was collected from 404 full-time hotel employees working in 34
hotels in Turkey during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in spring 2020. Structural equation modeling
was used to examine the proposed hypotheses.
Findings – Results of this study show that intrinsic religiosity improves employees’ mental toughness,
while extrinsic religiosity enhances employee mindfulness. Additionally, both mental toughness and
mindfulness help employees to develop political skill.
Research limitations/implications – This study enriches knowledge to workplace religiosity
literature and expands the research scope of religion-related research in hospitality and tourism
literature. Future studies are recommended to consider religious heterogeneity and longitudinal
design.
Practical implications – To foster employee mental well-being, hotel firms should create a religious-
friendly workplace and develop religion-friendly policies. Opportunities should be created within hospitality
organizations for employees to develop and use their political skills in needed work aspects.
Originality/value – The findings of this study contribute to valuable theoretical and practical
implications. To the best of the knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to study hotel employees’
religiosity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
International Journal of
Keywords Religiosity, Mindfulness, Political skill, Self-categorization theory, Mental toughness, Contemporary Hospitality
Management
Hotel employees © Emerald Publishing Limited
0959-6119
Paper type Research paper DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-08-2020-0836
IJCHM 1. Introduction
With a fast-paced, dynamic and demanding working environment, the hospitality industry
can be highly stressful, especially for front-line employees, who often have to juggle the
conflicting demands of the company, supervisors, customers and sometimes co-workers
(Baum et al., 2020). As such, employees will need certain competencies such as the political
skill to be successful in the workplace. Political skill is defined as “the ability to effectively
understand others at work and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that
enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives” (Ferris et al., 2005, p. 127).
Employees’ political skills can be nurtured through developmental work experiences,
especially in situations full of stressors and ostracism (Summers et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2012).
Politically skilled employees are outward-focused toward others, maintaining proper
balance and perspective at the workplace and conveying calm self-confidence to others
(Ferris et al., 2005; Ferris et al., 2007).
Moreover, employees with great political skills can recognize and capitalize on
opportunities at work very well (Wihler et al., 2017). For example, Hung et al. (2012) found
that hotel employees who properly use the political skill in voicing themselves at their
workplace tend to get better performance ratings from their managers than those who are
not good at a political skills. Further, today’s businesses are constantly faced with
uncertainties, challenges and various crises, the most recent being the coronavirus (COVID-
19) pandemic, which has devastated the tourism and hospitality industry (Gursoy and Chi,
2020; Jiang and Wen, 2020). During the difficult and unsettled times, political skill is a
needed competency that enables employees to plan contingency strategies to secure jobs,
operate work tasks, find business opportunities and sustain customers (Ferris et al., 2005;
Ferris et al., 2007; Hung et al., 2012; Summers et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2012; Wihler et al., 2017).
For the purpose of identifying how hotel employees could develop the political skill to
counteract work stress and confront uncertainties, based on self-categorization theory
(Larsen, 1980; Turner, 1987), this study takes a unique angle by connecting political skill
with the mechanism of religiosity. Across different races and cultures in the world, people
have a strong tendency to resort to religion for mental support to cope with anxiety,
depression, uncertainty and fears toward illness and death, (Koenig et al., 2001; Woods and
Ironson, 1999). Literature in religion (Hackney and Sanders, 2003; McNicholl, 2018; Taylor,
2007) and psychology (Gebauer et al., 2012; Sedikides and Gebauer, 2009; Seeman et al.,
2003) have explained and found how religion plays an important role in human society to
support spiritual growth, mental wellness and resilience in the face of adversity. Studying
religion in hospitality management, however, is still in the beginning stage (Gursoy et al.,
2017). Most recently in hospitality literature, researchers have explained how religiosity
shapes entrepreneurs’ values and entrepreneurship behavior (Farmaki et al., 2020; Gursoy
et al., 2017).
Religiosity refers to the extent of involvement in religion (Chau et al., 1990; Gorsuch,
1988; Wuthnow, 2002). Based on the motivation of religious involvement, religiosity is
further conceptualized into intrinsic religiosity (e.g. lives one’s religion; as a terminal value)
and extrinsic religiosity (e.g. uses one’s religion; as an instrumental value) (Allport and Ross,
1967; Donahue, 1985). We propose that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity allow hotel
employees to grow mental toughness (Gucciardi et al., 2015) and mindfulness (Feldman
et al., 2007), which help them deal with uncertainties and difficulties. Mental toughness is a
state-like concept that enables individuals to thrive in challenging situations (Gucciardi
et al., 2015). The concept of mental toughness is widely examined in sport psychology to
explain how elite athletes achieve outstanding performance at stressful sports competitions
(Jones, 2002; Jones et al., 2007).
 Originally derived from Buddhism, mindfulness is a mental status of maintaining Impact of
affective balance, which is often described as present-centered awareness (Kumar, 2002; religiosity on
Kumar et al., 2008). Mindfulness assists individuals to be aware of and to accept how one’s
own mind actually is (Kumar, 2002). To cope with stress and adversity, mental toughness
political skill
(Crust, 2008; Kristjansdottir et al., 2018) and mindfulness (Bostock et al., 2019; Eby et al.,
2019) have been identified as key mental mechanisms, and therefore we incorporate mental
toughness and mindfulness in this study as the outcomes of religiosity. We further propose
that, with the religiosity-driven growth of mental toughness and mindfulness, employees
can cultivate political skills (Eby et al., 2019; Ferris et al., 2005; Kristjansdottir et al., 2018;
McNicholl, 2018). That is religiosity influences the mental mechanisms (mental toughness
and mindfulness) of employees who then develop a political skill that helps them counteract
stress and face adversities in challenging times.
Muslim hotel employees in Turkey are selected as the population of this study. The
Turkish hotel industry has undergone enormous hardships in recent years, suffering from
economic and geopolitical woes (Rey-Gore, 2018). A resurgence of the hotel economy in 2019
was quickly hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic (Anonymous, 2020). The tough time
experienced by the industry will certainly greatly affect its employees. As the vast majority
of employees (over 90%) in Turkey are Muslim (Çaha et al., 2010), it will be interesting to see
whether religious activities help reduce anxiety and improve the mental health of Turkish
hotel employees. The findings of this study can directly benefit the research context,
offering insights to support the country’s existing socio-religious environment. In a larger
context, as Muslim employees worldwide have faced political and religious challenges at the
workplace (Berger et al., 2017), there is an urgent need to examine how they may gain coping
mechanisms through religiosity.
This study is one of the first attempts in the hospitality academy to move toward such
synergy among religiosity, employee mental well-being and competencies. The findings of
this study could enrich the hospitality literature on the role of religiosity in strengthening
employees’ coping capability during stressful and uncertain circumstances. On the other
hand, this study could offer empirical evidence to the hospitality industry for the creation of
a religious-friendly workplace, if applicable in their local social-cultural contexts. Hospitality
businesses could consider employee programs that support intrinsic and/or extrinsic
religiosity for the formation of employee mental wellness and coping competence.

2. Literature review
2.1 Conceptual background
2.1.1 Self-categorization theory. Self-categorization theory (Larsen, 1980; Turner, 1987) is
developed on the basis of social identity, which is defined by Tajfel (1972) as “the
individual’s knowledge that he belongs to certain social groups together with some
emotional and value significance to him of this group member” (p. 292). Larsen (1980, p. 113)
stated “the social categories to which a person belongs are crucial to one’s social
acceptance.” Based on the perception of others within a social group, category members’
social identity formation becomes a process of depersonalization (Hogg and Terry, 2000).
The categorization-based depersonalization diminishes self-conception and transforms
individual behavior and self-perception in line with the prototype of the contextually
relevant in-group (Abrams and Hogg, 2010; Hogg and Terry, 2000).
Religion is one of the common factors used in human society to sort social categories
(Larsen, 1980). Using self-categorization theory, Brown and Brown (2011) explained how
American Christians use religion to identify in-groups and out-groups in society. This study
also attempts to adopt self-categorization theory to explain how employees rely on their
IJCHM religious involvement to shape personal values, resulting in the formation of their attitudes
and behaviors at work. Religious involvement, as found by Wuthnow (2002), offers
opportunities (e.g. volunteering for religious organizations, expanding friendship and
learning civic skills) for believers to build social capital, which supports changes in
believers’ attitudes and behaviors. Individuals’ involvement with a religion is a process of
identifying their self-concept to be connected with that of the religion’s social group(s),
forming religious socially structured fields (Turner, 1987).
Through continuous involvement within the religious socially structured fields,
individuals absorb normative (e.g. thoughts from the Bible) and structural (e.g. leadership
and hierarchy in religious organizations) factors in the religion and the group(s), shaping
religious group-based social perception (Turner, 1987). Such religious group-based social
perception could then be transferred by employees as spiritual higher-order guiding
principles for their attitudes and behaviors at the workplace such as ethical beliefs (Vitell
et al., 2006; Vitell et al., 2007), entrepreneurship behaviors (Farmaki et al., 2020; Gursoy et al.,
2017) and environmental action (Sherkat and Ellison, 2007). As an example of the religiosity-
driven mental and behavioral changes in social groups, McNicholl (2018) found that African
American Buddhists (e.g. angel Kyodo Williams) juxtapose Buddhism teachings in African
American communities to fight against white supremacy.
2.1.2 Religiosity. In the psychological literature, religion has long been considered a non-
focal or background variable (Gorsuch, 1988). How to keep objectivity toward religion in the
science field is the major difficulty faced by psychologists (Cohen et al., 2016; Gorsuch, 1988).
While some researchers (Norenzayan and Hansen, 2006) use “How strongly do you believe
in God” (p. 176) to measure religiosity with Christians, other religions possess different
views of beliefs such as Anyone can become a Buddha in Buddhism (Masao, 1993;
McNicholl, 2018). Through analyzing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of church
attendance, Allport and Ross (1967) proposed intrinsic and extrinsic orientation in religious
involvement, leading to the conceptualization of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Gorsuch
(1988) recognized Allport and Ross’s study (1967) as a significant movement toward
theorizing and measuring religiosity. Cohen et al. (2017) later highlighted that even after 50
years, the conceptualization of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity (Allport and Ross, 1967) is
still the golden standard in the psychology of religion.
People with intrinsic orientation in religiosity find their master motive in religion,
internalizing religious values and following them fully, as such they live their religion
(Allport and Ross, 1967). Intrinsic religiosity is found to be positively related to regular
church attendance, being mature, internal locus of control, tolerance, mental health, purpose
in life, lack of anxiety, altruism, guilt and consumers’ ethical beliefs (Chau et al., 1990;
Donahue, 1985; Vitell et al., 2005; Vitell et al., 2006) and is negatively related to neuroticism
(Chau et al., 1990). On the other hand, as extrinsic motivations are utilitarian and
instrumental, people with extrinsic orientation in religiosity use religion as a means for their
own ends (e.g. ensure security, gain social status and self-justification) and as such, they use
their religion (Allport and Ross, 1967). Extrinsic religiosity is found to be positively related
to irregular church attendance, being immature and dependent, prejudice, trait anxiety, fear
of death, dogmatism, shame and neuroticism (Chau et al., 1990; Donahue, 1985) and is
negatively related to guilt (Chau et al., 1990).
In the Islamic context, several empirical studies have shown the importance of religiosity
in improving people’s mental health (Sahraian et al., 2013; Mohammadzadeh and Najafi,
2020; Saleem et al., 2020). For example, based on 271 Muslim college medical students in
Iran, Sahraian et al. (2013) found that their religious involvement is positively related to
subjective happiness. Mohammadzadeh and Najafi (2020) sampled 339 Muslim participants
in Iran and found that those who could internalize spiritual forces as a positive religious Impact of
coping mechanism to face life difficulties have significantly less anxiety, depression and religiosity on
death obsession than those who rely on negative religious coping methods (e.g. focus on
spiritual tensions and conflicts). Using 200 Muslim respondents in Pakistan, Saleem et al.
political skill
(2020) found that participation in religious activities, frequency of prayer offering and
religious offering preference are significantly and positively related to the participants’
mental health.

2.2 Hypotheses development

2.2.1 Religiosity and political skill. To survive at a workplace and climb up the career ladder,
it is necessary for employees to understand and exercise political skills (Ferris et al., 2007;
Mintzberg, 1985). Ferris et al. (2005) identified four key features of political skill: social
astuteness (e.g. sensitive to others, clever in dealing with others and accurate understanding
of social situations), interpersonal influence (e.g. exert influence on those around them and
elicit particular responses from others to achieve one’s goals), networking ability (e.g.
develop and use diverse networks of people and build beneficial coalitions and alliances) and
apparent sincerity (e.g. appear to be sincere, honest, forthright, open and authentic). Recent
management studies have examined the effectiveness of political skill at the workplace on
stress management, career success, individual job performance and leadership effectiveness
(Kimura, 2015; Summers et al., 2020). Building upon Ferris et al. (2007), Munyon et al. (2015)
further proposed a framework to explain the effects of political skill on self-evaluation
(intrapsychic processes; e.g. personal resource assessment and personal goal setting),
situational appraisals (intrapsychic processes; e.g. appraisals of others and stress
management), situational responses (behavioral processes; e.g. coalition building, help-
seeking and counterproductive behavior), evaluation by others (interpersonal processes; e.g.
personal reputation evaluations and relationship assessments) and group and
organizational processes (interpersonal processes; e.g. facilitation of team member
interaction, contagion effects and diagnosis of team climate).
We propose that employees can cultivate their political skill through religious
involvement. Based on the self-categorization theory, employees build a strong identity with
their religion and religious social groups through intrinsic and extrinsic religious
involvement, resulting in religious-guided work attitudes and behaviors (Benefiel et al.,
2014; Milevsky and Levitt, 2004). While employees in an organization abide by corporate
rules and policies, religion can still play an important role in guiding individual decisions
and actions and providing employees with spiritual energy to face adversities at the
workplace (Benefiel et al., 2014; Gursoy et al., 2017; Sherkat and Ellison, 2007). Internalizing
religion in personal daily life permits employees to apply what they learn in religious studies
to overcome impediments at their workplace and develop and exercise needed political skills at
work (Black, 2013). Extrinsically, employees may use their religion to get social support and
build friendship within and beyond the religious groups (Donahue, 1985; Milevsky and Levitt,
2004), establishing political skill needed to survive and thrive at the workplace. Wuthnow
(2002) confirmed that holding a congregational leadership role and membership of a religious
congregation can significantly boost one’s status-bridging social capital (i.e. networks spanning
vertical arrangements of influence, power, prestige and wealth). Therefore, we propose the
following hypotheses:

H1. Intrinsic religiosity is positively associated with political skill.

H2. Extrinsic religiosity is positively associated with political skill.
IJCHM 2.2.2 Religiosity and mental toughness. Former literature on mental toughness is mostly
conducted in sport contexts through interviews and surveys with elite athletes and coaches
(Gucciardi et al., 2015). In sport psychology, researchers confirmed that mental toughness
enables athletes in sports competitions to remain calm, cope with pressure and anxiety
better than their opponents and stay confident, focused and determined (Bull et al., 2005;
Crust, 2008; Jones, 2002). Surveying elite handball players, Kristjansdottir et al. (2018) found
that mentally tough athletes commonly use psychological skills such as emotional control,
relaxation, goal setting, positive thinking and self-talk. Interviewing Australian soccer
players, Coulter et al. (2010) sorted major themes from players’ self-talk under challenging
situations, including winning mentality and desire, optimism, personal pride, honest and
realistic view of achievements, down to earth perspective, acknowledgment of others’
sacrifices, valuing personal opportunities and having an immense love to play soccer.
Gucciardi et al. (2015) established an eight-item mental toughness scale, which covers self-
belief, attention regulation, emotion regulation, success mindset, context knowledge,
buoyancy and optimism. Gucciardi et al. (2015) further revealed that mental toughness is
essential for striving (e.g. working toward objectives), surviving (e.g. dealing with
adversities) and thriving (e.g. maintaining high levels of performance) in various
achievement contexts.
This study proposes that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity can support the
development of employees’ mental toughness. On one hand, intrinsic-oriented religious
involvement allows employees to channel and internalize mentally tough roles from
religious stories (Benefiel et al., 2014; Milevsky and Levitt, 2004), which inspires their
workplace attitudes and behaviors. It should be noticed that suffering is a common theme in
religious stories across several religions. So intrinsic religious involvement enables believers
to summon mental toughness against adversities or even consider adversities in their daily
life as spiritual tests (Black, 2013; McNicholl, 2018). On the other hand, extrinsic-oriented
religious involvement provides employees chances to accumulate social capital (Wuthnow,
2002), helping them become mentally tough to overcome obstacles at work (Connaughton
et al., 2008). Individuals with high extrinsic religiosity have the tendency to build social ties
through religious social groups (Wuthnow, 2002), and hence get chances to learn from the
religious social groups to be mentally tough toward hardship. Connaughton et al. (2008) also
found that social support is one key approach for individuals to gain mental toughness.
Based on the above, we propose the following hypotheses:

H3. Intrinsic religiosity is positively associated with mental toughness.

H4. Extrinsic religiosity is positively associated with mental toughness.
2.2.3 Religiosity and mindfulness. Originated in Buddhism for the purpose of alleviating
suffering and grief, as well as accomplishing the purification of beings, the Satipatthana
Sutta (discourse) stresses the practice of mindfulness and advocates for the use of
meditation to establish mindfulness of body, feelings, mind and the realm of perception
(Hanh, 2012). Meta-analysis studies of mindfulness meditation have pointed to its effects on
improving individuals’ attention, memory, emotional regulation, positive emotions, self-
concept and well-being (Eberth and Sedlmeier, 2012; Sedlmeier et al., 2012). Meanwhile,
mindfulness meditation can significantly reduce individuals’ anxiety, negative emotions,
negative personality traits, stress and chronic pain (Eberth and Sedlmeier, 2012; Hilton et al.,
2017; Sedlmeier et al., 2012). Kumar (2002, p. 42) explained that the practice of mindfulness is
“to observe, with acceptance, how full the mind actually is.” In line with Kumar (2002) to
capture the aspects of awareness (i.e. awareness of the experience) and acceptance (i.e. an
attitude of acceptance toward the experience) in mindfulness, this study adopts items from Impact of
the cognitive and affective mindfulness scale (CAMS) (Feldman et al., 2007; Kumar et al., religiosity on
2008).
For the application of mindfulness in management, Weick et al. (1999) pointed out that
political skill
mindfulness should be emphasized at the workplace. Forming collective mindfulness among
employees would secure highly reliable organizations. Weick et al. (1999) found that
collective mindfulness enhances an organization’s capability to discover and manage
unexpected events. Good et al. (2016) discovered that the formation of employee mindfulness
contributes to three positive workplace outcomes: performance (e.g. task and helping
behaviors), relationships (e.g. communication and compassion) and well-being (e.g. physical
and psychological well-being). Taken together, employee mindfulness should be
emphasized to help hospitality employees and hospitality organizations to cope with
pressure and hardship.
This study proposes that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity can enhance employee
mindfulness. Engagement in intrinsic religiosity prompts employees to dig deeper into their
inner feelings and toward self-reflection (Chau et al., 1990; Milevsky and Levitt, 2004), which
supports the formation of mindfulness. As noted by Kumar (2002), “spiritual evolution
occurs mainly as a result of investigating underlying cognitive assumptions about our
perception of self and other” (p. 41), through deeply connecting self with religion in intrinsic
religiosity, employees can cultivate their sense of awareness at the workplace, as well as
accept good and bad work experiences (Sedlmeier et al., 2012). The meanwhile, engagement
in extrinsic religiosity allows employees to build social capital within religious social groups
(Donahue, 1985), providing them opportunities to learn about work and life experiences from
others (Wuthnow, 2002). Getting to know others’ experiences is like reading stories about
the Law of Karma, assisting individuals to understand and accept that what happened at the
current moment are the consequences of former actions (Kumar, 2002). This would result in
a systematic approach to building individuals’ mindfulness. Based on the above, we
propose:

H5. Intrinsic religiosity is positively associated with mindfulness.

H6. Extrinsic religiosity is positively associated with mindfulness.
2.2.4 Mental toughness, mindfulness and political skill. This study proposes that employee
mental toughness contributes to the growth of political skills. Being mentally tough assists
employees to build fundamentals such as the ability to regulate attention and emotion
(Gucciardi et al., 2015) for the formation of political skill such as interpersonal influence
(requires attention and emotion regulation) and apparent sincerity (requires emotion
regulation) (Ferris et al., 2005). Besides, Gucciardi et al. (2015) found that mentally tough
athletes normally possess rich context knowledge in their field (e.g. knowledge of the area
where I could perform well), which assists them in developing competitive strategies to win
sports games. In line with Gucciardi et al. (2015), we propose that mental toughness supports
the formation of political skills such as social astuteness, which determines employees’
ability to comprehend social interactions and properly interpret attitudes and behaviors in
the workplace (Ferris et al., 2007). Additionally, similar to mentally tough athletes who
develop mental and psychological strategies to help them win (Crust and Azadi, 2010;
Kristjansdottir et al., 2018), mentally tough employees would have the motivation to develop
their political skill because that would help them be more successful at the workplace. Based
on the above, we propose:
IJCHM H7. Mental toughness is positively associated with political skill.
We also propose that mindfulness can assist employees to develop the political skill. For
example, the practice of mindfulness (Eby et al., 2019) emphasizes being fully aware of what
is happening in one’s environment, which is instrumental to employees’ acquiring political
skills such as social astuteness, interpersonal influence and networking ability (Kimura,
2015). Without an awareness toward the workplace and one’s inner feelings, employees may
misunderstand situations and misinterpret others’ motives (Weick et al., 1999), thus, not able
to exercise political skills. Additionally, the practice of acceptance in mindfulness lends itself
to political skill development. Acceptance in mindfulness practice preaches on forgiving
past mistakes, letting go of worries for the future and fully concentrating on the current
moment (Kumar et al., 2008). With the “acceptance” mindset, employees can readily develop
political skill such as interpersonal influence and networking abilities, especially during
uncertain times as COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we propose:

H8. Mindfulness is positively associated with political skill.

2.2.5 The research framework. Based on the above justifications for our proposed
hypotheses, Figure 1 shows this study’s research framework. Based on the self-
categorization theory, this study proposes that employees use religiosity to identify their
social category, using what they have learned from religious involvement as spiritual
principles to cultivate mental mechanisms (i.e. mental toughness and mindfulness) and
competence (i.e. political skill) in the workplace.

3. Method
3.1 Sampling and data collection procedure
The population of this study is full-time frontline hotel employees (front office and food
and beverage departments) in Turkey. Data was collected via convenient sampling. As
one of the research team members has a strong connection with the local chamber of
commerce and hotel associations, we were able to obtain management consent to
conduct the study in 34 hotels located in the middle and eastern Black Sea region We
visited each of the sampled hotel properties in person in a two-month duration in spring
2020 and distributed about 15–16 survey questionnaires in each property to full-time
frontline employees who were willing to participate in our study. After explaining the
purpose of the study to the participating employees and answering questions if any, we
would leave the property to allow the respondents to complete the survey
independently without monitoring from a third party. We would return the next day or

Religiosity
H1

H3
Intrinsic Religiosity Mental Toughness
M H7
H4
Political Skill
H5
H8
Extrinsic Religiosity Mindfulness
Figure 1.
H6
The research
framework H2
so to collect the survey. To secure the confidentiality, envelopes were provided for the Impact of
employees to seal their completed anonymous survey. A total of 525 survey religiosity on
questionnaires were distributed and returned, among which 404 surveys with complete political skill
responses were retained for data analysis, reaching a usable response rate of 76.95%.

3.2 Measures
All measures used in this study were established by former literature (Feldman et al., 2007;
Ferris et al., 2005; Gucciardi et al., 2015; Vitell et al., 2007) and were translated into Turkish
by the research team through back-translation method following Brislin (1970). Two rounds
of pilot tests were conducted with tourism college students in Turkey to ensure reliability
and face validity of the measurement scale. The first pilot test involved 46 students and the
second pilot test recruited 49 students. Based on the pilot test results, some items were
revised or deleted from the original scale. For example, based on suggestions from the first
pilot test for measuring intrinsic religiosity, the item of “I have often had a strong sense of
God’s presence” from Vitell et al. (2007) was revised as “I have often had a strong sense of
Allah’s presence.” Another example is that the item of “I go to religious services because it
helps me to make friends” from Vitell et al. (2007) in measuring extrinsic religiosity was
deleted due to an extremely low score comparing to other items in extrinsic religiosity. After
the second round of the pilot test, all measures reached over 0.70 in Cronbach’s alpha
reliability.
All scale items were rated by the five-point Likert scale (ranging from strongly disagree
as 1 to strongly agree as 5). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity was measured by 8 items
adapted from Vitell et al. (2007), including 5 items for intrinsic religiosity and 3 items for
extrinsic religiosity. As explained in the former paragraph, the wordings of these religiosity
items were revised through pilot tests to reflect the religious involvement of Muslims in
Turkey. Mental toughness was assessed with 7 items from Gucciardi et al. (2015).
Mindfulness was evaluated with 3 items from Feldman et al. (2007). The political skill was
gauged using the original 6 items from the political skill inventory by Ferris et al. (2005).
Demographic variables collected in the survey included work tenure in the current hotel,
hotel star rating, current city, age, sex, type of religion, marital status and the highest level
of education.

3.3 Data analysis

Collinearity among constructs was checked through the variance inflation factor (VIF)
(Kline, 2011). As all data was collected solely from employees, a test of common method
biases (CMB) is recommended (Podsakoff, 2003) using Harman’s one-factor analysis,
which examines whether a single factor accounts for the majority of the variance in the
variables. Results of the one-factor analysis explained 45.60% of the variance (< 50%
threshold), showing the CMB is not a serious issue in this study. Afterward, this study
followed the two-step approach of Anderson and Gerbing (1988) for data analysis using
SPSS 26 and Mplus 8. In the first step, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was
conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of the measures. In the second step,
structural equation modeling (SEM) was implemented to test the proposed hypotheses.
Based on former hospitality literature (Gursoy et al., 2008; Karatepe and Uludag, 2008;),
work tenure, age, sex and education were added as control variables in our research
model.
IJCHM 4. Results
4.1 Participants’ profile
Table 1 shows participants’ demographic profile. All 404 participants were Muslim,
among whom, 61.63% were married, 52.48% were male, 55.20% were 21–30 years of
age, 42.82% worked at a five-star hotel, 55.94% had worked less than 5 years in
current hotel and 31.19% earned an undergraduate college degree as their highest
level of education. We believe the collected data was a representative data set because
the participants’ profile was similar to former hospitality literature sampling hotel
employees in Turkey (Akgunduz, 2015; Pinar et al., 2011).

Variables Frequency (%)

Sex
Male 212 52.48
Female 192 47.52
Age
18–20 26 6.43
21–30 223 55.20
31–40 105 26.00
41–50 44 10.89
51–60 5 1.24
61 and above 1 0.24
Work tenure
Less than 5 years 226 55.94
5–10 years 110 27.23
11–15 years 48 11.88
16–20 years 5 1.24
21 years and above 15 3.71
Current city
Rize 134 33.17
Trabzon 128 31.68
Samsun 142 35.15
Religion
Islam 404 100
Marital status
Married 155 38.37
Single 249 61.63
Star rating
Five-star 173 42.82
Four-star 107 26.49
Three-star 60 14.85
Not reported 64 15.84
Education
Primary education 48 11.88
High school 99 24.50
Trade and technical high school 35 8.66
Table 1. Vocational school 83 20.55
Profile of Undergraduate college degree 126 31.19
participants Graduate college degree (master’s and/or PhD) 13 3.22
4.2 Measurement model Impact of
The correlation table and CFA results are presented in Tables 2 and 3. Fit indices of the religiosity on
measurement model were acceptable (X2 = 714.83, df = 242, X2/df = 2.95, p # 0.000; CFI
(comparative fit index) = 0.92; TLI (Tucker Lewis index) = 0.91; RMSEA (root mean square
political skill
error of approximation) = 0.07; SRMR (standardized root mean square residual) = 0.05)
(Kline, 2011). In Table 2, all constructs’ square roots of AVE were higher than their
correlations with other constructs, indicating discriminant validity of the measurement.
Convergent validity was confirmed through factor loadings of the scale items (ranged from
0.63 to 0.91 shown in Table 3) and average variance extracted (AVE) of the constructs
(ranged from 0.50 to 0.69 in Table 3) (Kline, 2011). Additionally, as shown in Table 3,
composite reliability (CR) of the constructs ranged from 0.79 to 0.92 and Cronbach’s alpha of
the constructs ranged from 0.78 to 0.91, ensuring high reliability of the measures (Kline,
2011). The CFA results supported us to move to the next step – SEM.

4.3 Structural model

Figure 2 visualizes our SEM results. Fit indices from the SEM were acceptable (X2 =
774.44, df = 333, X2/df = 2.33, p # 0.000; CFI = 0.93; TLI = 0.92; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR =
0.06) (Kline, 2011). All four control variables were not significantly related to political
skill, indicating demographics such as work tenure ( b = 0.06, t-values = 1.09, p > 0.05),
age ( b = 0.06, t-values = 1.11, p > 0.05), sex ( b = 0.01, t-values = 0.24, p > 0.05) and
education ( b = 0.02, t-values = 0.39, p > 0.05) did not significantly affect employees’
political skill. As proposed, intrinsic religiosity was significantly and positively related to
mental toughness ( b = 0.22, t-values = 2.05, p < 0.05), supporting H3. No significant
effects of intrinsic religiosity on mindfulness ( b = 0.19, t-values = 1.69, p > 0.05) and
political skill ( b = 0.03, t-values = 0.35, p > 0.05) were found, rejecting H5 and H1. On the
other hand, extrinsic religiosity was significantly and positively related to mindfulness
( b = 0.24, t-values = 2.12, p < 0.05), supporting H6. No significant effects of extrinsic
religiosity on mental toughness ( b = 0.16, t-values = 1.42, p > 0.05) and political skill
( b = 0.12, t-values = 1.18, p > 0.05) were found, rejecting H4 and H2. Both mental
toughness ( b = 0.25, t-values = 2.37, p < 0.05) and mindfulness ( b = 0.31, t-values = 2.75,
p < 0.01) were significantly and positively related to political skill, supporting H7 and
H8. Table 4 summarizes the hypotheses testing results.
To confirm that there was no direct association between religiosity and political skill, we
added a mediation analysis of the proposed model using both mental toughness and mindfulness
as mediators. Results of the mediation test showed no direct effect of intrinsic religiosity (b =
0.03, t-values = 0.35, p > 0.05) and extrinsic religiosity (b = 0.12, t-values = 1.18, p > 0.05) on
political skill. Besides, no indirect mediation effect was found on mental toughness for the
relationship between intrinsic religiosity and political skill (b = 0.06, t-values = 1.54, p > 0.05)

Constructs HAVE Mean SD 1 2 3 4

1. IR 0.83 3.87 1.00

2. ER 0.81 3.93 1.03 0.75**
3. MT 0.71 4.05 0.71 0.31** 0.30** Table 2.
4. MS 0.75 3.97 0.78 0.33** 0.34** 0.69**
Means, standard
5. PS 0.76 3.93 0.84 0.30** 0.30** 0.48** 0.48**
deviations,
Notes: ** = p < 0.01. SD = standard deviation. IR = intrinsic religiosity, ER = extrinsic religiosity, MT = correlations and
mental toughness, MS = mindfulness, PS = political skill discriminant validity
IJCHM Constructs/items Loading t-value AVE a CR

Intrinsic religiosity (IR) 0.69 0.91 0.92

I enjoy reading about my religion 0.84 49.78***
It is important for me to spend time in private thought and prayer 0.91 79.00***
I have often had a strong sense of Allah presence 0.84 50.22***
I try hard to live all my life according to my religious beliefs 0.80 38.56***
My whole approach to life is based on my religion 0.74 30.13***
Extrinsic religiosity (ER) 0.66 0.85 0.85
I pray mainly to gain relief and protection 0.87 47.67***
What my religion offers me the most is comfort in times of trouble 0.82 39.71***
and sorrow
Prayer is for peace and happiness 0.75 28.82***
Mental toughness (MT) 0.50 0.87 0.88
I believe in my ability to achieve my goals 0.65 20.42***
I am able to regulate my focus when performing tasks 0.74 28.06***
I am able to use my emotions to perform the way I want to 0.69 23.52***
I strive for continued success 0.73 27.27***
I effectively execute my knowledge of what is required to achieve 0.77 31.68***
my goals
I am able to execute appropriate skills or knowledge when 0.76 30.18***
challenged
I can find a positive in most situations 0.63 18.63***
Mindfulness (MS) 0.56 0.78 0.79
It is easy for me to keep track of my thoughts and feelings 0.68 20.71***
I try to notice my thoughts without judging them 0.75 26.65***
I am able to accept the thoughts and feelings I have 0.81 33.07***
Political skill (PS) 0.58 0.89 0.89
I find it easy to envision myself in the position of others 0.65 20.06***
I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around 0.78 34.00***
me
It is easy for me to develop a good rapport with most people 0.84 45.08***
I understand people very well 0.77 32.88***
I am good at getting others to respond positively to me 0.77 32.46***
I usually try to find common ground with others 0.75 29.47***
Table 3.
Convergent validity Notes: ***= p < 0.001. Loading = standardized factor loading. AVE = average variance extracted. a =
and reliability Cronbach’s alpha. CR = composite reliability

and for the relationship between extrinsic religiosity and political skill (b = 0.04, t-values = 1.23,
p > 0.05). Neither indirect mediation effect was found on mindfulness for the relationship
between intrinsic religiosity and political skill (b = 0.06, t-values = 1.43, p > 0.05) and for the
relationship between extrinsic religiosity and political skill (b = 0.07, t-values = 1.69, p > 0.05).

5. Discussion and conclusion

5.1 Conclusion
Aiming to examine the effects of hotel employees’ religiosity during challenging times,
grounded in self-categorization theory, this study proposes mental toughness, mindfulness
and political skill as the outcomes in the research model. This study responds to Hong and
Handal’s (2020) call for a timely investigation into synergy among religion, science and
 Control Variables
Impact of
religiosity on
Tenure
political skill
Age
Gender
Education
β = 0.03

β = 0.22
2 *
Intrinsic Religiosity Mental Toughness β = 0.25 *

β = 0.19 Political Skill

β =0.16

Extrinsic Religiosity Mindfulness β = 0.31**

β = 0.24*

β = 0.12

Supported

Not Supported
Figure 2.
SEM model
Notes: * = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01

Path to Path from Hypotheses Estimate t-value Result

Political skill Intrinsic religiosity H1 0.03 0.35 Rejected

Political Skill Extrinsic religiosity H2 0.12 1.18 Rejected
Mental toughness Intrinsic religiosity H3 0.22 2.05* Supported
Mental toughness Extrinsic religiosity H4 0.16 1.42 Rejected
Mindfulness Intrinsic religiosity H5 0.19 1.69 Rejected
Mindfulness Extrinsic religiosity H6 0.24 2.12* Supported
Political skill Mental toughness H7 0.25 2.37* Supported
Table 4.
Political skill Mindfulness H8 0.31 2.75** Supported
Results of the
Notes: * = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01. X2 = 774.44, df = 333, X2/df = 2.33, p # 0.000; CFI = 0.93; TLI = 0.92; structural path
RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.06 estimates

management institutions. To the best of our knowledge, this study is also one of the first
attempts to study hotel employees’ religiosity (Farmaki et al., 2020; Gursoy et al., 2017).
Building upon this study, future hospitality research can develop research topics about
religiosity and spirituality in the hospitality workplace (Benefiel et al., 2014; Jamieson and
Tuckey, 2017), enriching our knowledge in areas of employee wellness (Zhang et al., 2020),
employee emotions (Yang et al., 2020), employee work values (Gursoy et al., 2008; Gursoy
et al., 2013), crisis management (Lai and Wong, 2020) and workplace safety during a
pandemic (Zhang et al., 2020).
IJCHM Our empirical results show that intrinsic religiosity enhances employees’ mental
toughness while extrinsic religiosity improves their mindfulness. Besides, both mental
toughness and mindfulness exert a positive influence on the development of employees’
political skills. It is worth noticing that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity does not
directly inspire political skill but through the mechanism of mental toughness and
mindfulness. The non-significant direct relationships between religiosity and political skill
demonstrate the importance of mental toughness and mindfulness in our model. Moreover,
the mixed effects of religiosity on mental toughness and mindfulness reveal differential roles
of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on channeling mental changes. Intrinsic religiosity is
significantly associated with mental toughness but not with mindfulness, which highlights
the predominant role of intrinsic religiosity in developing one’s mental toughness. On the
other hand, extrinsic religiosity significantly relates to mindfulness but not to mental
toughness, which emphasizes the primary function of extrinsic religiosity in growing one’s
mindfulness. Theoretical and practical implications of our study findings and directions for
future research are addressed in the following sections.

5.2 Theoretical implications

First, this study adds knowledge to workplace religiosity literature (Benefiel et al., 2014;
Petchsawang and Duchon, 2009) by extending our understanding of how the mental
mechanism works, aided by religiosity, to support hotel frontline employees during stressful
times and crises. Following the intrinsic-extrinsic perspective of religiosity from Allport and
Ross (1967), this study distinguishes two paths: an intrinsic mental mechanism from
intrinsic religiosity to mental toughness and an extrinsic mental mechanism from extrinsic
religiosity to mindfulness. We confirm the development of mental toughness as an intrinsic
mental mechanism, which could be supported by internalizing religion in employees’ daily
life. It recalls findings from previous religious studies (Black, 2013; McNicholl, 2018) that
individuals feel empowered to undertake more life challenges when they are able to
internalize religious values and actualize these values in their life through their attitudes and
behaviors. On the other hand, mindfulness is found to be the extrinsic mental mechanism
driven by extrinsic religious involvement. Awareness and acceptance in mindfulness, as
addressed in Donahue (1985) and Wuthnow (2002), can be cultivated extrinsically through
social capital built in extrinsic religiosity, which provides opportunities to learn about
others’ work and life experiences. Understanding others’ experiences helps individuals to
monitor personal thoughts and feelings and accept the actual self (Kumar, 2002). While most
former literature suggests silent activities (e.g. seated meditation and yoga) support the
growth of employee mindfulness (Bostock et al., 2019; Hafenbrack, 2017), Buddhism Sutras
(discourses) state that extrinsic reflections also lead to human mindfulness (Hanh, 2012; Shi
and Stevenson, 2001). The extrinsic mental mechanism identified in this study adds
empirical evidence to such extrinsic reflection.
Second, our study also expands the scope of religion-related research in hospitality and
tourism literature from previously mainly focusing on tourists visiting religious
destinations (Gilli and Ferrari, 2017; Wong et al., 2013) to currently analyzing hotel
employees practicing religiosity. Leading by recent efforts of Gursoy et al. (2017) and
Farmaki et al. (2020), research investigations about religion have focused on decision-
makers in hospitality organizations and entrepreneurs. This study has turned the focus to
employee religiosity and its effects on employee mental mechanism and skill development.
Through this study, we believe the self-categorization theory is strong theoretical support
for future hospitality research toward this topic. While the intangible social category and
religion indeed influence employee attitudes and behaviors at work (Benefiel et al., 2014;
Sprung et al., 2012), this has been under-explored in hospitality literature. Based on the self- Impact of
categorization theory, we argue that besides traditional categorization criteria, hospitality religiosity on
employees could, perhaps, be spiritually categorized by their religious involvement. This is
a promising research area worth future exploration to make our understanding of the
political skill
hospitality workplace and workforce more complete and more inclusive.
Third, our study realizes cross-religion integration in studying employee religiosity. In
the construct selection, intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity are established by Allport and Ross
(1967) through analyzing motivations for Christians to attend churches. Another construct,
mindfulness, as explained in our literature review, is originally derived from Buddhism
(Hanh, 2012; Kumar, 2002). In terms of sampling for this study, all participants were
Muslims in Turkey. From construct selection to sampling, this study tries to break religious
barriers, confirming human spiritual growth as a common human nature that could be
achieved by different religious beliefs (Benefiel et al., 2014). Our empirical evidence shows
that the constructs developed from Christianity and Buddhism can perform well in a
theoretical framework using samples from Islam. This study highlights the importance of
creating theoretical dialogues across religions on human spiritual growth that should be
emphasized and promoted to support employees in challenging times (Benefiel et al., 2014;
Hong and Handal, 2020).

5.3 Practical implications

This study provides hoteliers and managers with evidence about the need to be religious-
friendly with their employees. As shown from our results, employees who are able to
practice their religiosity will gain mental resources to overcome adversity, and it works
through both intrinsic and extrinsic religious involvement. This study finds that intrinsic
religiosity enhances employee mental toughness. To support the growth of mental
toughness, hotel firms could consider offering physical spaces (e.g. prayer room), religious
texts and religious-related programs to support employees’ intrinsic religious practices at
the workplace. On the other hand, extrinsic religiosity is linked with mindfulness.
Hospitality firms could, thus, consider investing in extrinsic-oriented spiritual programs and
activities that nurture employee mindfulness. For example, hotel firms may provide
mindfulness training programs for their employees such as mindfulness-based stress
reduction (MBSR) training, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) training, yoga-
based mindfulness training, meditation-based mindfulness training, acceptance and
commitment therapy (ACT)-based training, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) or apps (e.g.
Happify developed by Happify, Inc.) and tools (e.g. Muse developed by InteraXon Inc.) for
mindfulness meditation (Bostock et al., 2019; Eby et al., 2019; Jamieson and Tuckey, 2017).
These programs have been applied in organizations in highly stressful industries such as
health-care and the military. As the hospitality workplace has also long been identified as
stressful, investing in these programs will help foster employee mental wellness (Zhang
et al., 2020).
Moreover, hospitality organizations should create opportunities for employees to develop
and use their political skills. While sometimes being political may bear some negative
connotation, as Mintzberg (1985) pointed out, human organizations are inherently political
arenas. Therefore, organizations should encourage and take advantage of employees’
political skills for improving corporate climate and business performance. Especially during
difficult times and crises, hospitality organizations often operate with fewer employees to
maintain a daily business; it is, therefore, critical for employees to be able to exercise their
political skill to build an alliance with their co-workers/vendors/suppliers and sustain social
IJCHM ties with old and new customers. This will go a long way after the crisis subsides and
businesses return to normal.
In conclusion, a religious-friendly workplace fosters employees’ mental well-being and
political skill, which could then be channeled to help the business survive and thrive during
trying times. When employees feel mentally safe and spiritually supported at a religion-
friendly workplace, they spend less time and effort worrying about the uncertainties and
potential risks. Furthermore, a workplace that embraces religion-friendly policies can better
serve a diverse customer base and better understand customers’ religious needs (e.g. provide
prayer rooms for customers on the premises and consider religious dietary restrictions in
food and beverage offerings, etc.) (Jeaheng et al., 2020; Suci et al., 2020).

5.4 Limitations and directions for future research

While this study generates valuable theoretical and practical implications, there are
limitations worth to be noticed for developing future research. First, all the participants in
this study are Muslims and the survey location is a predominantly Muslim country. To
expand our understanding of how employee religiosity works in a religiously diverse
workplace (Ancarani et al., 2016), future studies are suggested to consider religious
heterogeneity in research design and sampling. Second, this study used cross-sectional data
collection, which invites predictive limitation. Collecting data solely from employees can
cause CMB (Ali et al., 2019). Therefore, we suggest future studies to use multiple sources in
data collection such as surveying employees’ political skills through their supervisors or
colleagues rather than using self-report data. Future studies may develop a longitudinal
design to better establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Third, the outcomes of religiosity
proposed in this study are all positive. Mohammadzadeh and Najafi (2020) find that
religious coping can cause both positive and negative effects. Therefore, future studies are
recommended to investigate both the bright and dark sides of religiosity at the workplace.
Finally, non-response bias was not tested in this study. Future studies are suggested to test
non-response bias during the data collection following Kline (2011).

References
Abrams, D. and Hogg, M. (2010), “Social identity and self-categorization”, in Dovidio, J.F., Hewstone,
M., Glick, P. and Esses, V.M. (Eds), The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and
Discrimination, Sage, London, pp. 179-193.
Akgunduz, Y. (2015), “The influence of self-esteem and role stress on job performance in hotel
businesses”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 No. 6,
pp. 1082-1099.
Ali, F., Park, E., Kwon, J. and Chae, B. (2019), “30 Years of contemporary hospitality management:
uncovering the bibliometrics and topical trends”, International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 2641-2665.
Allport, G.W. and Ross, J.M. (1967), “Personal religious orientation and prejudice”, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 432-443.
Ancarani, A., Ayach, A., Di Mauro, C., Gitto, S. and Mancuso, P. (2016), “Does religious diversity in
health team composition affect efficiency? Evidence from Dubai”, British Journal of
Management, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 740-759.
Anderson, J.C. and Gerbing, D.W. (1988), “Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and
recommended two-step approach”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103 No. 3, pp. 411-423.
Anonymous (2020), “Turkey’s crisis-hit hotels contribute to currency fall”, available at: https://middle-
east-online.com/en/turkey%E2%80%99s-crisis-hit-hotels-contribute-currency-fall
Baum, T., Mooney Shelagh, K.K., Robinson Richard, N.S. and Solnet, D. (2020), “COVID-19’s impact on Impact of
the hospitality workforce – new crisis or amplification of the norm?”, International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 9, pp. 2813-2829.
religiosity on
Benefiel, M., Fry, L.W. and Geigle, D. (2014), “Spirituality and religion in the workplace: history, theory,
political skill
and research”, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 175-187.
Berger, L.J., Essers, C. and Himi, A. (2017), “Muslim employees within ‘white’ organizations: the case of
Moroccan workers in The Netherlands”, The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 28 No. 8, pp. 1119-1139.
Black, H.K. (2013), “Gender, religion, and the experience of suffering: a case study”, Journal of Religion
and Health, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 1108-1119.
Bostock, S., Crosswell, A.D., Prather, A.A. and Steptoe, A. (2019), “Mindfulness on-the-go: effects of a
mindfulness meditation app on work stress and well-being”, Journal of Occupational Health
Psychology, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 127-138.
Brislin, R.W. (1970), “Back-translation for cross-cultural research”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,
Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 185-216.
Brown, R.K. and Brown, R.E. (2011), “The challenge of religious pluralism: the association between
interfaith contact and religious pluralism”, Review of Religious Research, Vol. 53 No. 3,
pp. 323-340.
Bull, S.J., Shambrook, C.J., James, W. and Brooks, J.E. (2005), “Towards an understanding of mental
toughness in elite English cricketers”, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Vol. 17 No. 3,
pp. 209-227.
Çaha, Ö., Toprak, M. and Uslu, N. (2010), “Religion and ethnicity in the construction of official ideology
in Republican Turkey”, The Muslim World, Vol. 100 No. 1, pp. 33-44.
Chau, L.L., Johnson, R.C., Bowers, J.K., Darvill, T.J. and Danko, G.P. (1990), “Intrinsic and extrinsic
religiosity as related to conscience, adjustment, and altruism”, Personality and Individual
Differences, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 397-400.
Cohen, A.B., Mazza, G.L., Johnson, K.A., Enders, C.K., Warner, C.M., Pasek, M.H. and Cook, J.E. (2017),
“Theorizing and measuring religiosity across cultures”, Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, Vol. 43 No. 12, pp. 1724-1736.
Cohen, A.B., Wu, M.S. and Miller, J. (2016), “Religion and culture: individualism and collectivism in the
East and West”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 47 No. 9, pp. 1236-1249.
Connaughton, D., Wadey, R., Hanton, S. and Jones, G. (2008), “The development and maintenance of
mental toughness: perceptions of elite performers”, Journal of Sports Sciences, Vol. 26 No. 1,
pp. 83-95.
Coulter, T.J., Mallett, C.J. and Gucciardi, D.F. (2010), “Understanding mental toughness in Australian
soccer: perceptions of players, parents, and coaches”, Journal of Sports Sciences, Vol. 28 No. 7,
pp. 699-716.
Crust, L. (2008), “A review and conceptual re-examination of mental toughness: implications for future
researchers”, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 45 No. 7, pp. 576-583.
Crust, L. and Azadi, K. (2010), “Mental toughness and athletes’ use of psychological strategies”,
European Journal of Sport Science, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 43-51.
Donahue, M.J. (1985), “Intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness: review and Meta-analysis”, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 400-419.
Eberth, J. and Sedlmeier, P. (2012), “The effects of mindfulness meditation: a meta-analysis”,
Mindfulness, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 174-189.
Eby, L.T., Allen, T.D., Conley, K.M., Williamson, R.L., Henderson, T.G. and Mancini, V.S. (2019),
“Mindfulness-based training interventions for employees: a qualitative review of the literature”,
Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 156-178.
IJCHM Farmaki, A., Altinay, L., Christou, P. and Kenebayeva, A. (2020), “Religion and entrepreneurship in
hospitality and tourism”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,
Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 148-172.
Feldman, G., Hayes, A., Kumar, S., Greeson, J. and Laurenceau, J.-P. (2007), “Mindfulness and emotion
regulation: the development and initial validation of the cognitive and affective mindfulness
Scale-Revised (CAMS-R)”, Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, Vol. 29 No. 3,
pp. 177-190.
Ferris, G.R., Treadway, D.C., Kolodinsky, R.W., Hochwarter, W.A., Kacmar, C.J., Douglas, C. and Frink,
D.D. (2005), “Development and validation of the political skill inventory”, Journal of
Management, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 126-152.
Ferris, G.R., Treadway, D.C., Perrewé, P.L., Brouer, R.L., Douglas, C. and Lux, S. (2007), “Political skill
in organizations”, Journal of Management, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 290-320.
Gebauer, J.E., Sedikides, C. and Neberich, W. (2012), “Religiosity, social self-esteem, and psychological
adjustment: on the cross-cultural specificity of the psychological benefits of religiosity”,
Psychological Science, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 158-160.
Gilli, M. and Ferrari, S. (2017), “Marginal places and tourism: the role of Buddhist centers in Italy”,
Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 422-438.
Good, D.J., Lyddy, C.J., Glomb, T.M., Bono, J.E., Brown, K.W., Duffy, M.K., . . . Lazar, S.W. (2016),
“Contemplating mindfulness at work: an integrative review”, Journal of Management, Vol. 42
No. 1, pp. 114-142.
Gorsuch, R.L. (1988), “Psychology of religion”, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 201-221.
Gucciardi, D.F., Hanton, S., Gordon, S., Mallett, C.J. and Temby, P. (2015), “The concept of mental
toughness: Tests of dimensionality, nomological network, and traitness”, Journal of Personality,
Vol. 83 No. 1, pp. 26-44.
Gursoy, D. and Chi, C.G.Q. (2020), “Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality industry: review of the
current situations and a research agenda”, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management,
Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 527-529.
Gursoy, D., Altinay, L. and Kenebayeva, A. (2017), “Religiosity and entrepreneurship behaviours”,
International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 67, pp. 87-94.
Gursoy, D., Chi, C.G.Q. and Karadag, E. (2013), “Generational differences in work values and attitudes
among frontline and service contact employees”, International Journal of Hospitality
Management, Vol. 32, pp. 40-48.
Gursoy, D., Maier, T.A. and Chi, C.G. (2008), “Generational differences: an examination of work values
and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce”, International Journal of Hospitality
Management, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 448-458.
Hackney, C.H. and Sanders, G.S. (2003), “Religiosity and mental health: a meta–analysis of recent
studies”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 43-55.
Hafenbrack, A.C. (2017), “Mindfulness meditation as an on-the-spot workplace intervention”, Journal of
Business Research, Vol. 75, pp. 118-129.
Hanh, T.N. (2012), Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries, Parallax
Press, Berkeley, CA.
Hilton, L., Hempel, S., Ewing, B.A., Apaydin, E., Xenakis, L., Newberry, S., . . . Sorbero, M.E. (2017),
“Mindfulness meditation for chronic pain: systematic review and Meta-analysis”, Annals of
Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 199-213.
Hogg, M.A. and Terry, D.I. (2000), “Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational
contexts”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 121-140.
Hong, B.A. and Handal, P.J. (2020), “Science, religion, government, and SARS-CoV-2: a time for
synergy”, Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 59 No. 5, doi: 10.1007/s10943-020-01047-y.
Hung, H.K., Yeh, R.S. and Shih, H.Y. (2012), “Voice behavior and performance ratings: the role of Impact of
political skill”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 442-450.
religiosity on
Jamieson, S.D. and Tuckey, M.R. (2017), “Mindfulness interventions in the workplace: a critique of the
current state of the literature”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 22 No. 2,
political skill
pp. 180-193.
Jeaheng, Y., Al-Ansi, A. and Han, H. (2020), “Impacts of halal-friendly services, facilities, and food and
beverages on Muslim travelers’ perceptions of service quality attributes, perceived price,
satisfaction, trust, and loyalty”, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Vol. 29 No. 7,
pp. 787-811.
Jiang, Y. and Wen, J. (2020), “Effects of COVID-19 on hotel marketing and management: a perspective
article”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 8,
pp. 2563-2573.
Jones, G. (2002), “What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport
performers”, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 205-218.
Jones, G., Hanton, S. and Connaughton, D. (2007), “A framework of mental toughness in the world’s best
performers”, The Sport Psychologist, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 243-264.
Karatepe, O.M. and Uludag, O. (2008), “Affectivity, conflicts in the work–family interface, and hotel
employee outcomes”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 30-41.
Kimura, T. (2015), “A review of political skill: current research trend and directions for future research”,
International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 312-332.
Kline, R.B. (2011), Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, 3rd ed., The Guilford Press,
New York, NY.
Koenig, H.G., Larson, D.B. and Larson, S.S. (2001), “Religion and coping with serious medical illness”,
Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 352-359.
Kristjansdottir, H., Erlingsdottir, A.V., Sveinsson, G. and Saavedra, J.M. (2018), “Psychological skills,
mental toughness and anxiety in elite handball players”, Personality and Individual Differences,
Vol. 134, pp. 125-130.
Kumar, S. (2002), “An introduction to Buddhism for the cognitive-behavioral therapist”, Cognitive and
Behavioral Practice, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 40-43.
Kumar, S., Feldman, G. and Hayes, A. (2008), “Changes in mindfulness and emotion regulation in an
exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression”, Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 32
No. 6, pp. 734-744.
Lai, I.K.W. and Wong, J.W.C. (2020), “Comparing crisis management practices in the hotel industry
between initial and pandemic stages of COVID-19”, International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 10, pp. 3135-3156.
Larsen, K.S. (1980), “Social categorization and attitude change”, The Journal of Social Psychology,
Vol. 111 No. 1, pp. 113-118.
McNicholl, A. (2018), “Being Buddha, staying woke: Racial formation in black Buddhist writing”,
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 86 No. 4, pp. 883-911.
Masao, A. (1993), “Zen and Buddhism”, The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 26-49.
Milevsky, A. and Levitt, M.J. (2004), “Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity in preadolescence and
adolescence: effect on psychological adjustment”, Mental Health, Religion and Culture, Vol. 7
No. 4, pp. 307-321.
Mintzberg, H. (1985), “The organization as political arena”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 22
No. 2, pp. 133-154.
Mohammadzadeh, A. and Najafi, M. (2020), “The comparison of death anxiety, obsession, and
depression between Muslim population with positive and negative religious coping”, Journal of
Religion and Health, Vol. 59 No. 2, pp. 1055-1064.
IJCHM Munyon, T.P., Summers, J.K., Thompson, K.M. and Ferris, G.R. (2015), “Political skill and work
outcomes: a theoretical extension, meta-analytic investigation, and agenda for the future”,
Personnel Psychology, Vol. 68 No. 1, pp. 143-184.
Norenzayan, A. and Hansen, I.G. (2006), “Belief in supernatural agents in the face of death”, Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 174-187.
Petchsawang, P. and Duchon, D. (2009), “Measuring workplace spirituality in an Asian context”,
Human Resource Development International, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 459-468.
Pinar, M., McCuddy, M.K., Birkan, I. and Kozak, M. (2011), “Gender diversity in the hospitality
industry: an empirical study in Turkey”, International Journal of Hospitality Management,
Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 73-81.
Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Lee, J.Y. and Podsakoff, N.P. (2003), “Common method biases in
behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies”, Journal of
Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 879-903.
Rey-Gore, J. (2018), “How uncertainty is affecting Turkey’s hotels”, available at: www.hotelmanagement.
net/own/how-uncertainty-affecting-turkey-s-hotels
Sahraian, A., Gholami, A., Javadpour, A. and Omidvar, B. (2013), “Association between religiosity and
happiness among a group of Muslim undergraduate students”, Journal of Religion and Health,
Vol. 52 No. 2, pp. 450-453.
Saleem, T., Saleem, S., Mushtaq, R. and Gul, S. (2020), “Belief salience, religious activities, frequency of
prayer offering, religious offering preference and mental health: a study of religiosity among
Muslim students”, Journal of Religion and Health, doi: 10.1007/s10943-020-01046-z.
Sedikides, C. and Gebauer, J.E. (2009), “Religiosity as self-enhancement: a meta-analysis of the relation
between socially desirable responding and religiosity”, Personality and Social Psychology Review,
Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 17-36.
Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S. and Kunze, S. (2012), “The
psychological effects of meditation: a meta-analysis”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 138 No. 6,
pp. 1139-1171.
Seeman, T.E., Dubin, L.F. and Seeman, M. (2003), “Religiosity/spirituality and health: a critical review
of the evidence for biological pathways”, American Psychologist, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 53-63.
Sherkat, D.E. and Ellison, C.G. (2007), “Structuring the religion-environment connection: Identifying
religious influences on environmental concern and activism”, Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 71-85.
Shi, S.Y. and Stevenson, D. (2001), Hoofprint of the Ox: Principles of the Chan Buddhist Path as Taught
by a Modern Chinese Master, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
Sprung, J.M., Sliter, M.T. and Jex, S.M. (2012), “Spirituality as a moderator of the relationship between
workplace aggression and employee outcomes”, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 53
No. 7, pp. 930-934.
Suci, A., Tri Nanda, J., Kadaryanto, B. and van Fc, L. (2020), “Muslim-friendly assessment tool for hotel:
How halal will you serve?”, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, doi: 10.1080/
19368623.2020.1775746.
Summers, J.K., Munyon, T.P., Brouer, R.L., Pahng, P. and Ferris, G.R. (2020), “Political skill in the
stressor-strain relationship: a meta-analytic update and extension”, Journal of Vocational
Behavior, Vol. 118, p. 103372.
Tajfel, H. (1972), “Social categorization (English translation of “La catégorisation sociale”, in Moscovici,
S. (Ed.), Introduction à la Psychologie Sociale (Vol. 1), Larousse, Paris, France, pp. 272-302.
Taylor, B. (2007), “Surfing into spirituality and a new, aquatic nature religion”, Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, Vol. 75 No. 4, pp. 923-951.
Turner, J.C. (1987), Rediscovering the Social Group: Self-Categorization Theory, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Vitell, S.J., Paolillo, J.G. and Singh, J.J. (2005), “Religiosity and consumer ethics”, Journal of Business Impact of
Ethics, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 175-181.
religiosity on
Vitell, S.J., Paolillo, J.G. and Singh, J.J. (2006), “The role of money and religiosity in determining
consumers’ ethical beliefs”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 64 No. 2, pp. 117-124. political skill
Vitell, S.J., Singh, J.J. and Paolillo, J.G. (2007), “Consumers’ ethical beliefs: the roles of money, religiosity
and attitude toward business”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 73 No. 4, pp. 369-379.
Weick, K.E., Sutcliffe, K.M. and Obstfeld, D. (1999), “Organizing for high reliability: processes of
collective mindfulness”, in Staw, B. and Sutton, R. (Eds), Research in Organizational Behavior
(Vol. 21), JAI, Greenwich, CT, pp. 81-123.
Wihler, A., Blickle, G., Ellen, B.P., III, Hochwarter, W.A. and Ferris, G.R. (2017), “Personal initiative and
job performance evaluations: role of political skill in opportunity recognition and capitalization”,
Journal of Management, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp. 1388-1420.
Wong, C.U.I., McIntosh, A. and Ryan, C. (2013), “Buddhism and tourism: perceptions of the monastic
community at Pu-Tuo-Shan”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 40, pp. 213-234. China”.
Woods, T.E. and Ironson, G.H. (1999), “Religion and spirituality in the face of illness: how cancer,
cardiac, and HIV patients describe their spirituality/religiosity”, Journal of Health Psychology,
Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 393-412.
Wu, L.Z., Yim, F.H., Kwan, H.K. and Zhang, X. (2012), “Coping with workplace ostracism: the roles of
ingratiation and political skill in employee psychological distress”, Journal of Management
Studies, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 178-199.
Wuthnow, R. (2002), “Religious involvement and status-bridging social capital”, Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 669-684.
Yang, C.E., Wang, Y.C. and Yang, J. (2020), “Hotel restaurant service employees’ sources of positive and
negative emotions”, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, Vol. 21 No. 5, doi:
10.1080/1528008X.2020.1712306.
Zhang, T.C., Torres, E. and Jahromi, M.F. (2020), “Well on the way: an exploratory study on
occupational health in hospitality”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 87,
p. 102382.
Zhang, J., Xie, C., Wang, J., Morrison Alastair, M. and Coca-Stefaniak, J.A. (2020), “Responding to a
major global crisis: the effects of hotel safety leadership on employee safety behavior during
COVID-19”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 11,
pp. 3365-3389.

Corresponding author
Yao-Chin Wang can be contacted at: ycwang@uark.edu

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com