Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Ali Asghar Abdeshahi ¹
• Mohammad Hakkak ²

¹ Ph.D. Student, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

² Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

Abstract

The objective of this research is to design and test an indigenous model of organizational governance entitled "ʿAlawī Organizational Governance" based on the sīrah of Imam ʿAlī (a.s.) and in order to elevate the psychological-spiritual health of employees as a key indicator of the quality of governance. This study seeks to present an operational and alternative framework for imported human resource management models which, by neglecting the Islamic-Iranian identity, have failed in resolving human resource challenges in Iran. The main problem is the inefficiency of prevalent human resource management models with Western origins within the cultural-civilizational context of Iran, which, due to inattention to ʿAlawī values and the intellectual system of the Islamic Revolution, have been unable to create a sense of belonging, justice, and meaning among employees. This gap has led to phenomena such as widespread occupational burnout, decreased motivation, the weakening of social capital, and the migration of elites, which threatens the legitimacy and efficacy of the entire governance system. The pivotal question of the research is: "Can the three-layered model of ʿAlawī organizational governance, consisting of the pillars of ʿAlawī justice, meaning in work, and Iranian-Islamic human resource policies, elevate
the psychological-spiritual health of employees? And what differences exist in the effectiveness of these pillars in the public and private sectors?" This research has been conducted using a field-survey method with a quantitative approach. Field data were collected from $235$ employees of the public sector (the Governorate and the Agricultural Jihad) and the private sector (two active service and manufacturing companies) in Lorestan Province. The research instrument was a scenario-based and structured questionnaire with a $9$-point Likert scale, the content validity of which was confirmed by experts and its reliability was calculated with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient above $0.85$. To analyze the data and examine the linear, non-linear, and interactive effects of the independent variables 
on the dependent variable, the advanced method of "Response Surface Methodology" was utilized utilizing the Design-Expert software. Furthermore, to determine the optimal combination of variables, the "Desirability Function" was employed. The empirical findings indicated different and significant models in the two organizational sectors: 1) In the public sector, ʿAlawī justice was the strongest and most significant predictor of
the psychological-spiritual health of employees. The relationship in this sector was predominantly linear, which indicates the absolute priority of the perception of the fairness of procedures, interactions, and resource distribution within bureaucratic apparatuses. 2) In the private sector, meaning in work emerged as the dominant factor, and its effect was non-linear (quadratic) and exponential. This means that by increasing the level of endowing meaning to work, its impact on the psychological-spiritual health of employees increases with a steeper slope, and for the workforce of this sector, linking the job with transcendent goals and serving the people is a more determinant factor. 3) Iranian-Islamic human resource policies (meritocracy, professional ethics, consultation) played an infrastructural and positively moderating role in both sectors. These policies provide the necessary institutional context for the effective realization of justice and the sustainable deepening of meaning. 4) The results of the desirability function indicated that under conditions of resource constraints, the optimal strategy is focusing on ʿAlawī justice in the public sector and focusing on meaning in work in the private sector, so that the highest yield in elevating psychological-spiritual health is achieved. 5) The presented three-layered model (human resource policies as the underlying layer, justice as the middle layer, and meaning as the top layer) emphasized the synergy of these pillars and demonstrated that any defect in the underlying layer reduces the effectiveness of the entire system. This research succeeded for the first time in designing and empirically testing an indigenous, integrated, and contingent model of organizational governance relying on authentic Islamic-Iranian resources. The findings convincingly demonstrate that "ʿAlawī organizational governance" not only possesses the capability to explain and predict the psychological-spiritual health of employees but also, as an action guide for managers and policymakers, can be an appropriate alternative for imported models. This model, by placing psychological-spiritual health at the focal point of governance, is an indigenous response to the serious challenges of human capital such as occupational burnout and the migration of elites. The implementation of this model can aid in increasing organizational resilience, strengthening social capital, elevating institutional legitimacy, and ultimately, realizing the macro-objectives of upstream documents such as the Declaration of the Second Phase of
the Islamic Revolution. This study is a fundamental step toward transforming Iranian organizations into just, meaningful, and efficient environments in which employees, as faithful (muʾmin) and creative human beings, play an active role in building a "Strong Iran" and a "Modern Islamic Civilization". It is recommended that future researches, utilizing a longitudinal method and at the national level, address the generalization and completion of these findings as well as the design of operational interventions based on this framework.

Keywords

• Islamic Governance
• Organizational Social Capital
• Organizational Resilience
• Institutional Legitimacy
• Structural Justice-Centeredness
• Organizational Spirituality
• Religious Meritocracy
• Iranian-Islamic Organizational Culture
• Lorestan Province