Inspiring workplace happiness: religiosity and organizational trust in the academic context

Purpose This paper focuses on academics in public universities in Egypt. It explores the effect of perceptions of the rector's religiosity and trust on workplace happiness among academics. Design/methodology/approach A total of 600 academics are contacted. After two follow-ups, a total of 540 responses are collected, of which 525 are valid. This study uses SmartPLS 3 to test the hypotheses. Findings This paper finds that academics' perceptions of their rector's religiosity have a positive effect on engagement, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Moreover, academics' perceptions of their rector's religiosity positively affect their perceptions of their rector's ability, benevolence and honesty. Furthermore, academics' trust in their rector has a positive effect on their engagement, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Originality/value This paper contributes by filling a gap in management and organization literature, in which empirical studies of the relationship between religiosity, organizational trust and workplace happiness are limited or scarce.