Inclusive Leadership, Workplace Spirituality, and Job Performance in the Public Sector: A Multi-Level Double-Moderated Mediation Model of Leader-Member Exchange and Perceived Dissimilarity

Although inclusive leadership as an essential leadership style for a diverse workforce has attracted increasing attention in business management research, little is known about how and when it may improve subordinates’ job performance in the public sector where civil servants are expected to have high levels of workplace spirituality. Therefore, this study theorizes a multi-level double-moderated model where inclusive leadership impacts civil servants’ job performance with workplace spirituality as a mediator and leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived dissimilarity as moderators based on the conservation of resources theory. A sample of 392 civil servants nested within 72 local functional government departments in China’s western multi-ethnic regions through a three-wave survey was used to examine our proposed model by multi-level structural equation modeling analysis. The results demonstrate that the positive relationship between inclusive leadership and civil servants’ job performance is transmitted through the workplace spirituality. LMX and perceived dissimilarity serve as two moderators of the above mediated positive relationship. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.