International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2(8) August 2013, Pages: 539-543

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International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

ISSN
2306-7276

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Investigating the Relation between Spiritual

Intelligence and Psychological Empowerment
among Nurses of Faghihi Hospital in 2012
Mohsen Torabi *1, Seyed Mohammad Moghimi 2, Abbas Monavarian 3
1

M.S. of public administration, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Full Professor of Organizational behavior, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
3
Associate Professor of public administration, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2

AR TIC LE INF O

AB STR AC T

Keywords:

Considering the importance of effective factors on the psychological empowerment of nurses who
have always been in the center of attention by educational systems and health care, This study was
conducted, aimed at determining the spiritual intelligence and its correlation with psychological
empowerment of nurses. This cross sectional-analytic study was carried out on 179 hospital nurses
in Shiraz (Faghihi hospital). Data were gathered by a questionnaire and were analyzed using
statistical software SPSS. T-test findings suggest that hospital nurses of Faghihi in Shiraz city as
spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment are above of the average of 3.5, however,
such results often are not unexpected in society where people believe in religious values. Also the
Pearson correlation test showed a significant and positive correlation between spiritual intelligence
and psychological empowerment.

Spiritual intelligence
Psychological empowerment
Nurses
Faghihi hospital

2013 Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

1.

Introduction

Regarding the various discussion of spiritual intelligence, the issue seems to be still necessary because Hospital is an institution which has
the most influential and important role in society. In order to provide the desired services, nurses and health care providers which constitute
60 to 70 percent of hospital staff and medical centers, should be considered more. But the facts imply that nurses get depressed over time
due to the lack of happy environment and tiredness, and after a long struggle with depression and anxiety, they become guests of hospitals
beds. In the new, modern and more productive organization, employees have reported feeling isolated, devalued, dehumanized, and
exploited (Chandler Lee, 2005). Due to the open atmosphere of the hospital environment, high expectations of the patients and their
relatives, high frequency of interpersonal conflict, disrespectful behaviors of patients and their relatives, nurses are experiencing stressful
time (Shakerinia, 1389).
Existing these barriers to optimal care of hospitals and nurses, including Faghihi Hospital in Shiraz, make providing good services difficult.
In these conditions, nurses can incorporate spirituality in their professional career and see it not as a job but as a mission. Spiritual
intelligence as a structure which according to researches, has vital role in mental health of nurses, was considered by the authors. The fact is
that improving nurses spiritual intelligence helps them to see different patterns of life, improve their communication skills, having goaloriented professional feeling and understand the real meaning of events and experience more meaningful workplace (Bagheri et al, 2010).
Considering the above, the main question of this research is to determine the relationship between spiritual intelligence and psychological
empowerment.

2.

Literature review

Spirituality is derived from the Latin word Spirare meaning to breathe. Spirituality is inherent aspect of human nature and essence of our
existence so it draws attention of many theorists as the source of all thoughts, feelings, values and behavior. Spirituality affects the
following cases: how people understand themselves and others, how they value the meaning of life and work (Chandlerlee, 2005). But why
spirituality is regarded as a form of intelligence? Emmons (1999) based on Gardners definition of intelligence tried to pose spirituality in
the framework of intelligence. After the introduction of multiple intelligences by Gardner, the concept of spiritual intelligence comes to
exist. For the first time in the psychology academic literature the concept of spiritual intelligence was raised by Stevens in 1996 and then in
1999 by Emmons. There are many different definitions of spiritual intelligence which make it hard to combine them into one framework
especially those with component of meta-physical. Spiritual intelligence is the human capacity to ask ultimate questions about the meaning
of life and the relationship between each of us with a world in which we live (Wolman, 2001). Four dimensions of spiritual intelligence are
critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness and conscious state expansion. Critical existential
thinking is the Ability to create meaning based on deep understanding of existential questions (Amram, 2005). Personal meaning
* Corresponding author.
Email address: Mohsentorabi89@yahoo.com

540

Mohsen Torabi et al.

Int ernational Journal of Ec onomy, Mana ge ment and Soci al Sc iences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

production is Person's ability to stimulate both physical and psychological experience of the person with personal meaning that comes with
a sense of satisfaction (King, 2008). Transcendental awareness is the Ability to understand one's relationship with a higher power, all the
creatures, man and the environment (King, 2008; Vaughn, 2002). Conscious state expansion is the ability to enter a state of spiritual
awareness or higher (King, 2008). Since people are born with the capacity for spirituality, nurses can combine spirituality with their
professional career and see it not as a job but as a mission (Baldachino, 2008).
In the Oxford Dictionary the word empowerment means, authorization, and capable of providing the service. In a certain sense, it means,
empowering people to manage themselves and in the concept of organization it means a change in the culture of the organization and the
courage in creating organizational environment (Razavi, 1386). Do empowerments techniques enable staff to participate? Do subordinates
automatically feel empowered when the authority and resources are shared? Questions such as these cause moving from empowerment in
terms of management to subordinates perception which is called cognitive and psychological empowerment (Ergeneli et al, 2007). More
recently, organizational researches have focused on psychological empowerment in the workplace (Spreitzer et al, 1999). Generally
definitions of empowerment include decentralization of decision-making authority and give responsibility to low levels of employees. In
this term empowerment is a series of management activities that focus on delegating decision-making authority. While manager should
furnish conditions for empowerment, staff themselves should choose empowerment (Barton and Barton, 2011). Thomas and Velthouse
(1990), defined psychological empowerment as a cognitive state that can be seen in the following four directions: meaning (value of
persons work), competence (the persons ability to do work), Self determination (the right to choose the activities) and impact (the ability
to influence organizations outcomes). In recent years, the concept of Management in the health care system has been posed and has been
able to solve many problems and four key and practical theory such as management excellence, organizational culture, management quality
and empowering has been very influential in the management and nursing profession (Dargahi, 1384). In today's competitive world, the
only core competency for any organizations (including health care organizations), are its people and their role in the success of their
organization which is possible through empowerment and committed staff (Abily and Nastizaei, 1388). Empowerment is becoming the
main issue in the literature of the relationship between culture of nursing and their participation (Knol, 2006). Researches show that nurses
empowerment can boast trust and commitment, learning opportunities, job satisfaction, productivity, participation in decision making,
quality of care, patient satisfaction, self-sufficiency, a sense of independence, confidence, responsibility, and finally, cause the effectiveness
of the organization, work control and reduction of occupational stress and depersonalization (Abily and Nastizaei, 1388). Moreover
according to the researches which are conducted on factors affecting employee empowerment, among all the factors spirituality factor is
one of the most important (and yet is neglected). Also researches conducted on factors affecting empowerment have shown that many
factors influence this variable. The factors are in the individual, organizational, and environmental area. Among the individual factors
especially spiritual has special effect (Bakhtiari, 1389).

3.

Methodology

Present research, with the aim of determining the empirical relationships between nurses' spiritual intelligence and their psychological
empowerment, was analytic/cross sectional and applied. The method of data gathering was detailed questionnaires.
The number of nurses in Faghihi Hospital were 334 and due to the limited number of the nurses, the questionnaires were distributed to all
334 members of which 179 of them were returned.
86.6% of the respondents were women and 10.1% of them were men. 26% have had less than one year of work experience, (24.7%) 2-3
years work experience, (11%) 4-5 years, (14.3%) 6-9, (9.1%) 10-12 and (14.9%) with the years of experiences of more than 13.
In order to collect data, two types of questionnaires were used: 1. Spiritual intelligence questionnaire designed by Linda Hildebrant which
contains of the four dimensions: critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, Transcendental awareness and Conscious state
expansion. 2. Psychological empowerment questionnaire designed by Zoe Dimitriades which contains three dimensions: goal
internalization, perceived control and perceived competence.
After selecting the questionnaires, we attempted to assess validity and reliability of the questionnaire. With Emphasis on internal
consistency reliability of the test method, the method is called the coefficient alpha or Cronbach's (Momeni and Ghaiyoomi, 1386).
Cronbach's alpha coefficient spiritual intelligence was 0.888 and for psychological empowerment was 0. 885 since both values were greater
than 0.7, the test of reliability is acceptable. Furthermore the effect of removing some question on the Cronbach was investigated, for
spiritual intelligence by removing question number 6 the number become 0.898 and for psychological empowerment by removing question
39 Coronbach was 0.888.

4.

Conceptual Model and hypothesis

To take everything into consideration, Conceptual model was designed and tested using four dimensions of spiritual intelligence as the
independent variable and the three dimensions of psychological empowerment as the dependent variable.

Investigating the Relation between Spiritual Intelligence and Psychological Empowerment among Nurses of Faghihi Hospital

541

Internat ional Jour nal of Economy, Mana ge ment and Social Sciences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

Figure1. Conceptual Model

Hypothesis 0: There is relationship between spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment.

Hypothesis 1: There is relationship between critical existential thinking and perceived competence.
Hypothesis 2: There is relationship between critical existential thinking and goal internalization.
Hypothesis 3: There is relationship between critical existential thinking and perceived control.
Hypothesis 4: There is relationship between personal meaning production and perceived competence.
Hypothesis 5: There is relationship between personal meaning production and goal internalization.
Hypothesis 6: There is relationship between personal meaning production and perceived control.
Hypothesis 7: There is relationship between transcendental awareness and perceived competence.
Hypothesis 8: There is relationship between transcendental awareness and goal internalization.
Hypothesis 9: There is relationship between transcendental awareness and perceived control.
Hypothesis 10: There is relationship between Conscious state expansion and perceived competence.
Hypothesis 11: There is relationship between Conscious state expansion and goal internalization.
Hypothesis 12: There is relationship between Conscious state expansion and perceived control.
4.1 analysis and hypotheses testing
In this research, Statistical methods are:
Correlation analysis: correlation analysis is statistical tool for determining the type and degree of correlation between variables (Momeni
and Faal ghayomi, 1386). In this study, Pearson correlation was used.
T Test: To check appropriateness or inappropriateness of the status of spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment and their
dimensions, T test was used.
For better understanding, prior to hypotheses testing, mean and standard deviation of spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment
are listed and they are shown in the table below:
Table1. Mean and std. deviation

N valid
missing
mean
Std. deviation

Spiritual
intelligence

Psychological
empowerment

Perceived
competence

Goal
internalization

Perceived
control

Critical
existential
thinking

Personal
meantime
production

Transcendenta
l awareness

Conscious
state
expansion

179

179

179

179

179

179

179

179

179

3.8751

3.8524

4.1293

3.6997

3.7268

3.9937

3.8866

3.6773

3.7138

.46711

.59009

.57810

.87465

.75927

.49172

.61305

.48690

.66210

As it is evident from Table1, all the variables and their dimensions were above average (>3).
To evaluate appropriateness or inappropriateness of the spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment status T-Test were carried
out. They are summarized in the table below:

Mohsen Torabi et al.

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Int ernational Journal of Ec onomy, Mana ge ment and Soci al Sc iences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

Table2. One sample T-test

Test value=3.5

Spiritual intelligence
Psychological empowerment
Perceived competence
Goal internalization
Perceived control
Critical existential thinking
Personal meaning production
Transcendental awareness
Conscious state expansion

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean difference

10.743
7.990
14.565
3.055
3.997
13.434
8.437
4.871
4.320

178
178
178
178
178
178
178
178
178

.000
.000
.000
.003
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.37508
.35241
.62933
.19972
.22682
.49375
.38659
.17728
.21378

95% confidence interval of difference

Lower
upper
.3062
.4440
.2654
.4394
.5441
.7146
.0707
.3287
.1148
.3388
.4212
.5663
.2962
.4770
.1055
.2491
.1161
.3114

4.2 hypothesis design H0 and H1

H0: =3.5
H1: 3.5
According to the table 2, in all cases, significant value (sig) is less than 0.05, so H0 assumption is rejected and H1 is accepted.
Also, in all cases, both the upper limit and lower limit test is positive, then the value is larger than the average and this, represents that
nurses as both spiritual intelligence and psychological empowerment are in good condition.
4.3 testing hypotheses
All hypotheses were tested by Pearson correlation. Since significant of all hypotheses were 0.000 and due to the fact that it is less than 0.01,
all the hypotheses were confirmed.
The following table shows hypotheses in order of the strength of the correlation:
Table3. Hypotheses in order of strength of correlation

5.

Order

Hypothesis

Coefficient of correlation

Order

Hypothesis

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

H0
H12
H5
H6
H1
H9
H10

.554
.456
.442
.428
.423
.421
.418

8
9
10
11
12
13

H11
H8
H4
H3
H2
H7

Coefficient of
correlation
.390
.382
.376
.343
.304
.290

Conclusion

According to the literature, confirming the main hypothesis: positive relationship between nurses' spiritual intelligence and psychological
empowerment had been anticipated. Authors reasoning which was based on the literature, had been made as follows:
A review of the psychological empowerments literatures facilitates our understanding of the relationship between these two variables.
Studies have shown that there are two approaches in the theory and practice of empowerment (Ergenel et al, 2007). The first approach is
called relational approach which focuses on environmental factors and defines empowerment as a set of managerial activities that gives the
staff power, control, and authority. In studies in this approach, empowerment known as collaboration by which power is transferred from
organization to those who have less power. The second approach is called cognitive or motivational approach to understand the perspective
of the employees. In This approach, employees' psychological empowerment is emphasized and reflect the fact that weather employees see
themselves as a person who has power or not. Based on this approach, empowerment is staffs mental condition. Cognitive approach,
emphasizes on open communication, emotional support to reduce stress.
We assumed that spiritual intelligence is the variable by which a person gains higher self awareness, happiness and a sense of control over
his life, and it matches with the approach of cognitive or motivational. A person can use spiritual intelligence to reshape, redefine and
transform his life and its events. From phenomenological point of view, this process will be able to give meaning and value to life events
and happenings.
Moreover, nurses working life reveals that the point is not decision making power, because from their perspective they have the power.
We believe that the reason why scientific community move toward the psychological empowerment was that the mere sharing of resources
among subordinates may not necessarily be effective and they will not feel empowered. So what is important is open communication,

Investigating the Relation between Spiritual Intelligence and Psychological Empowerment among Nurses of Faghihi Hospital

543

Internat ional Jour nal of Economy, Mana ge ment and Social Sciences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

emotional support to reduce the stress and worry and in such cases the internal resources that can help them to reduce stress is spirituality
and spiritual intelligence. The gap can be filled with the benefits of spiritual intelligence.
In addition, regarding T-test results, which was taken to calculate mean of spiritual intelligence of the nurses and their psychological
empowerment, interesting results obtained and confirm authors assumption. Nurses as spiritual intelligence and psychological
empowerment were of the above average 3.5.

6.

Suggestions

World health organization, international councils of nurses and most of nursing theorists of the world emphasis on the importance of paying
attention to the educating spiritual care and spirituality. The result of calisters et al (2005) studies showed that only a small number
(15.5%) of the students were familiar with spirituality and spiritual care, as well as in the study of spirituality in nursing education gaps
have been reported in the literature.
To sum up, authors offer courses in spirituality and spiritual care in nursing education program.
Also because of stress caused by on night duty and dealing with different types of diseases, they are more subject to the depression so
flexible hours which give them the freedom to choose the hours and formal training programs in the form of seminars is suggested.

Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank Marjan Fayyazi for her sincere assistance. I would also like to thank Tehran University and
Faghihi hospital and its Staff (nurses) for their supports. It falls to me to thank my parents for their cordial help.

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