DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC

DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT

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DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC Ashish Rastogi , Surya Prakash Pati , Pankaj Kumar , Jitendra Kumar Dixit PII: DOI: Reference:

S0970-3896(17)30473-1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2019.10.013 IIMB 366

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IIMB Management Review

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14 September 2017 6 June 2019 17 October 2019

Please cite this article as: Ashish Rastogi , Surya Prakash Pati , Pankaj Kumar , Jitendra Kumar Dixit , DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC, IIMB Management Review (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2019.10.013

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Article Title Short Title

DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC I DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA YOGA’ INSTRUMENT Ashish RastogiII Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Area IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode – 673570 (INDIA) Email: [email protected]

Surya Prakash Pati Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Area IIMK Campus P.O. Kozhikode – 673570 (INDIA) Email: [email protected]

Pankaj Kumar Indian Institute of Management Lucknow Human Resource Management Area Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow – 226013 (INDIA) Email: [email protected]

Jitendra Kumar Dixit GLA University Institute of Business Management 17km Stone, NH-2, Mathura-Delhi Road P.O. Chaumuhan, Mathura-281 406 (U.P.) INDIA Email: [email protected]

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A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 75 th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management held between 07.08.2015 and 11.08.2015 at Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). We express our sincere gratitude to the participants for their valuable and insightful feedback. The earlier version is archived under the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode Working Paper Series and its complete citation reads: Rastogi, A., Pati, S. P., & Kumar, P. (2015). Measurement of Karma Yoga: Development and validation of a Karma Yoga Instrument (KYI-6). IIMK Working Paper Series (IIMK/WPS/167/OBHR/2015-03) Corresponding author

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DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA-YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC

ABSTRACT Scholarly interest in the expression of spiritual and religious traditions at work has been on the rise in recent years. Researchers have subjected work-related aspects of many belief systems to academic inquiry. However, the Hindu treatise on work is conspicuous by its absence from the workplace spirituality discourse despite its metaphysical, demographic and economic significance. In this article, we operationalize Karma-Yoga, the core of Hindu work ethic. Followed by a conceptual and methodological critique of extant operationalizations, we develop and validate an instrument of Karma-Yoga in accordance with Rastogi and Pati’s (2015) conceptualization. Three studies on distinct samples are reported for the purpose. Preliminary evidence on convergent validity, discriminant validity, nomological validity, and internal consistency is provided. Keywords: Absorption; Bhagavad Gita; Hindu work ethic; Karma-Yoga; Scale development; Service consciousness

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DEVELOPMENT OF ‘KARMA-YOGA’ INSTRUMENT, CORE OF HINDU WORK ETHIC

INTRODUCTION The dominant paradigm of inquiry in organisational research values the logical, empirical, rational, objective, external and material aspects of reality (Gull and Doh 2004). It also considers religion and spirituality irrelevant to the work experience (Davidson and Caddell 1994). However, scholars are increasingly opening up to an alternate world view representing intuitive, divinatory, transcendental, subjective, internal and spiritual aspects of reality. This is perhaps a recognition that for many people around the world, religion and work are the most central and defining features of life (Hill and Smith 2003). Further, spirituality at workplace has been associated with positive employee work attitudes (e.g. Kolodinsky et al. 2008, Milliman et al. 2003, Pawar 2009, Rego and Cunha 2008). It therefore becomes important to better comprehend the ways and means in which people express their religious and spiritual beliefs in their work. We contend however that the scholarly discourse on workplace spirituality is largely dominated by the Judeo-Christian belief system (Richardson et al. 2014). Further, researchers have also brought to the fore Islamic Work Ethic (e.g. Ali 1988, Yousef 2001). This academic interest is understandable given that Christianity and Islam constitute about 32% and 23% of the world population respectively (Pew Research Center 2014). Among the religious traditions of the Orient, relevant work related aspects of Buddhism (e.g. Low and Purser 2012) and Confucianism (e.g. Hunsaker 2016) have also been subjected to academic inquiry. Contrarily, Hindu treatise on 3

work is conspicuous by its absence from the workplace spirituality discourse. This is surprising on many counts. First and foremost, authorities in oriental studies concur that Hinduism represents longest surviving civilisation (Chakraborty and Chakraborty 2007). Further, its rich tradition provides philosophical underpinnings to half the world. As noted by Radhakrishnan (1927/ 2012, p.1): “China and Japan, Tibet and Siam, Burma and Ceylon look to India as their spiritual home [sic.]”. Second, Hindus constitute 15% of the world population and are the third largest religious group (Pew Research Center 2014). Further, the median age of Hindus is 26 years (Pew Research Center 2012). Thus for demographic reasons also, it becomes important for scholars to understand as to how this young population expresses its beliefs in work. Third, Hindus are largely concentrated: 97% of all Hindus live in the world’s three Hindu majority countries (India, Mauritius and Nepal) and an overwhelming majority of Hindus (94%) live in India (Pew Research Center 2012). This concentration is significant for both management scholars and practitioners as India is one of the prominent emerging economies (Chittoor et al. 2015, Richardson et al. 2014). It therefore makes economic sense as well for the scholars to understand the Hindu work ethic. Karma-Yoga as elaborated in the Bhagavad Gita is the core of Hindu work ethic. Bhagavad Gita is a canonical scripture of Hinduism (Moffitt 1977), which is considered to be the most representative text on Indian thought and religion (Eder 1988, Minor 1980). Karma-Yoga (the yoga of action) is proposed as one of the three fundamental kinds of yoga, the others being the Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion) and the Jnana Yoga (the yoga of knowledge). Yoga has been variously interpreted as “way of life” (Kauts and Sharma 2009), discipline (Moffitt 1977), and union (Joshi 1965) among others. Karma-Yoga is suggested as the path of action to attain human perfection and happiness (White 1971), thereby achieving communion with the

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Transcendental (Moffitt 1977). It has been argued to be the Indian philosophy of work (Bhawuk 2011, Mulla and Krishnan 2006). Work being fundamental and inescapable (Gandhi 1980), the Bhagavad Gita suggests Karma-Yoga as the ‘wise way of acting’ (Joshi 1965). It entails working selflessly for the sake of work alone, forsaking the fruits thereof (Moffitt 1977). When one follows Karma-Yoga, “the outcomes of one’s actions have no motivating potential, and one constantly pursues an inward journey, which is inherently fulfilling and satisfying” (Bhawuk 2011, p. 148). Bhagavad Gita proposes that Yoga (or union with the Transcendental) through Karma (or action) can be attained if one strives for skilfulness in actions even while being unattached to the outcomes (Upadhyaya 1969). In summary, Karma-Yoga involves working with devotion to serve others (Bhawuk 2011). However, the understanding of organisational scholars in general and workplace spirituality researchers in particular about Karma-Yoga is limited. We can identify two predominant reasons for the same. First, scholarly work on Karma-Yoga is by and large confined to Indian and Indigenous psychology circles. This translates into little interaction with modern Western psychology research (Dalal and Misra 2010), which is dismissive of Yoga as “yet another version of Eastern metaphysics and mysticism” (Coward 1983, p. 49). Second, scant research on Karma-Yoga in the management literature is sketchy and simplistic (Rastogi and Pati 2015). Atheoretical conceptualisations coupled with lack of consensus on its dimensions renders the construct unsuitable for scholarly pursuits. Thus Karma-Yoga, the core of Hindu work ethic, is not well understood, discussed or researched upon by scholars who are interested in the manner in which people express their beliefs at work. This is despite assertions that Karma-Yoga may contribute “in bringing about a fertile convergence of spirituality and management” (Sharma 2004, p. 210).

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Recently, Richardson et al. (2014) sought common ground in the Hindu and Islamic traditions of work ethics literature. Their work was by nature broadly aimed at a comparative study of the two traditions. Accordingly, we present Karma-Yoga as a core expression of Hindu work ethic while elaborating its dimensions. Further, we develop and validate a scale to measure Karma-Yoga. The paper is organised as follows. First, we critique the extant operationalisations of Karma-Yoga in the organisation and management literature, highlighting its inadequacies. Thereafter, we introduce an alternative conceptualisation by Rastogi and Pati (2015), which we deem to be methodically determined. This is followed by scale development, wherein we report three distinct studies to develop a valid and reliable measure of Karma-Yoga. Discussion and conclusion follow.

KARMA-YOGA IN ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT LITERATURE History and critique The earliest available definition of Karma-Yoga in management literature was provided by Chakraborty (1993) who describe it as an energy conserving and mind purifying concept that encourages one to work for a cause higher than one’s ego. However, Narayanan and Krishnan (2003) provided the first ever operationalisation of Karma-Yoga. They asserted that it consists of two dimensions: ‘doing one’s duty’ and ‘not being attached to the outcomes’. Menon and Krishnan (2004) differed from the above operationalisation by proposing a four-factor model comprising of the dimensions of ‘significance of work’, ‘successful work’, ‘detachment from work’ and ‘setting an example’. Nevertheless, in later years Mulla and Krishnan (2006) defined the concept as a “technique for intelligently performing actions” and argued for a two-factor structure comprising of dimensions of ‘duty orientation’ and ‘absence of desire for rewards’.

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Subsequently the same authors (i.e. Mulla and Krishnan 2009) revised their model to a threefactor conceptualisation by including ‘equanimity’ as a dimension of Karma-Yoga. Thus, the first limitation of the extant literature on Karma-Yoga is that there exists little consensus on the number and nature of dimensions. The same set of authors were engaged in frequently alteration of dimensions, without sufficient rationale. Therefore, the instruments originating from such conceptualisations are to be employed with caution. Second, the available measures can safely be inferred to be psychometrically feeble. Upon referring Exhibit 1, which lists the predominant scales of Karma-Yoga in management literature, it can be observed that most of them reported reliabilities below 0.70. Four of the subscales (in separate studies) reported reliability below 0.60. Further, only a single scale by Narayanan and Krishnan (2003) provided a reliability of 0.74, however the authors had not incorporated suitable steps towards validating it. Third, thanks to the limited choices of reliable and valid measures, there exists a preference among researchers towards employing the instrument developed by Mulla and Krishnan (2006). This heralds the warning by Cook and Campbell (1976) on potential construct underrepresentation. Hence there is a pronounced need for psychometrically robust additional measures for Karma-Yoga, to facilitate triangulation (Cook and Campbell 1976) and high construct validity (Messick 1995). -------------------------------Insert Exhibit 1 about here -------------------------------An alternate conceptualization In response to the various limitations inherent in the extant literature of Karma-Yoga, Rastogi and Pati (2015) embraced a qualitative methodology to uncover the various ingrained

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dimensions of the concept. Accordingly, they content analysed four texts written by recognised authorities [i.e. The Bhagavad Gita (Gandhi 1980), Vedanta Philosophy: Eight Lectures on Karma-Yoga (Vivekananda 1896), The Practice of Karma-Yoga (Sivananda 1995) and God Talks with Arjuna—The Bhagavad Gita (Yogananda 2002)], and defined Karma-Yoga as “as a persistent positive state of mind that is characterised by absorption and service consciousness” (p. 56). Since our effort to develop a scale of Karma-Yoga is grounded on this conceptualisation, it merits elaboration. Absorption. Rastogi and Pati (2015) borrowed the definition of absorption from that of Schaufeli et al. (2002). Thus absorption may be understood as a state of full concentration and deep engrossment in one’s work. In many ways it has been argued to be similar to ‘flow’ (e.g. Agarwal and Karahanna 2000, Schaufeli et al. 2002), which is argued to be a state of optimal experience that is distinguished by focused attention, clarity of mind, mind-body unison, effortless concentration, complete control, loss of self-consciousness and intrinsic enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi 1990). Absorbed individuals tend to focus less on others and hence more engrossed in activities at hand. They are in a state of “total attention”, where all mental resources are engaged (Tellegen and Atkinson 1974). They possess the ability to focus attention on a single object, while ignoring other stimuli (Kreutz et al. 2008). Scholars of indigenous psychology have also likened Karma-Yoga with the peak experience or flow as understood in the Western psychological literature (see Bhawuk 2011). Service consciousness. Service consciousness is comprehended as felt responsibility of each to look after the welfare of others selflessly (Rastogi and Pati 2015). It translates to being sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, which in turn must lead to opening up of one’s arms for providing comfort (material, physical, psychological or spiritual) in a genuine feeling of

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oneness of all life (Badrinath 2006). Service conscious individuals are deemed to be compassionate while being content (Vivekananda 1896), with the desire to work intelligently, ambitiously and keenly not for personal gain but for welfare of others (Yogananda 2002). They think little about themselves, dwell little upon themselves, brood little upon themselves, but live for the good of all (Easwaran 1999). Further, they are committed to turn purely personal passions into a universal passion for welfare of all, thus providing meaningfulness to one’s work (Milliman et al. 2003). Rastogi and Pati (2015) argued that the dimension of service consciousness is largely synonymous with the dimension of duty orientation (Mulla and Krishnan 2012, Hannah et al. 2014). It represents an individual’s wilful orientation to loyally serve other members of the group, to strive and sacrifice to accomplish the tasks and missions of the group, and to honour its codes and principles (Hannah et al. 2014).

SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION We report three distinct studies towards the development and validation of an instrument of Karma-Yoga. In doing so, we follow standard guidelines for scale development as suggested by DeVellis (2012). Study 1 subjects the proposed items to an examination of content adequacy. This is followed by investigation of factorial validity and reliability in Study 2. Finally, in Study 3, we reconfirm the dimensional structure of the Karma-Yoga instrument and validate it.

STUDY 1 In Study 1, items for the proposed scale were identified from the extant literature and were treated to a content adequacy analysis to ascertain their degree of relevance to the KarmaYoga construct.

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Item generation A total of 37 non-redundant items were identified from existing measures in the literature. We chose not to generate new items for two reasons. First, the construct of absorption is extensively discussed in literature, with a good number of measures available for its assessment. Further Rastogi and Pati (2015) argue that service consciousness fairly overlaps with the construct of duty orientation that has a rich legacy of conceptualisation. Accordingly, eighteen items were borrowed from Jackson and Marsh (1996), Schaufeli et al. (2002), and May et al. (2004), to represent the dimension of absorption. Similarly, nineteen items were borrowed from Nickell (1998), Mulla and Krishnan (2007), Mulla and Krishnan (2008), and Hannah et al. (2014) respectively to represent the dimension of service consciousness.

Sample and Procedure We subjected the identified thirty-seven items to a content analysis test. Twenty-one doctoral students, with close familiarity with the discipline of organisational behaviour, were requested to participate in this study. The average age of the sample was 27.9 years (Standard deviation = 3.45), while their average work experience was estimated to be 3.91 years (Standard deviation = 3.01). Further, roughly 25% of the sample comprised of women students. The doctoral students were provided with Rastogi and Pati’s (2015) working definitions of absorption and service consciousness along with the corresponding item pool. They were then asked to independently rate each of the items on a 5-point Likert scale indicating their degree of relevance towards representing their corresponding constructs (1 – Not at all relevant, 5 – Highly relevant).

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Simultaneously, a short description of Karma-Yoga (sans the mention of the terms ‘absorption’ and ‘service consciousness’), as conceptualised by Rastogi and Pati (2015), and the thirty-seven item pool were provided to two senior faculty members of an elite management institution who were deeply conversant with the Bhagavad Gita. One of the faculty members actively researches on the domain of spirit at work, while the other studies the Bhagavad Gita as a religious text regularly. The reason that we opted not to mention the dimensions of absorption and service consciousness was to acknowledging the various other understandings (may be independent) the reviewers may have on Karma-Yoga. This was meant to enhance the representativeness of the items across theoretical schools and augment the convergent validity of the proposed new measure. The faculty members were requested to indicate independently on a 5-point Likert scale the degree of relevance of each item in representing the overall construct of Karma-Yoga (1 – Not all relevant, 5 – Highly relevant).

Analysis and findings The analyses were carried out in three steps. In Step 1, the ratings provided by the doctoral scholars for each item were examined, and the mean scores were computed. Only those items which reported a mean score greater than 3.50 were selected. Further, with reference to the mean scores, the selected items corresponding to the dimensions of absorption and service consciousness were ranked (Rank 1 represents highest mean score among the selected item pool). This exercise helped us remove the unclear and unpersuasive items (e.g. “When I am working, it feels that time has stopped” and “I willingly do whatever task is assigned to me, even if I do not enjoy it”). In Step 2, the responses by both the members of faculty were examined on the items selected from Step 1. They did not respond on the Likert continuum provided. Instead, they had 11

advised us through specific comments to exclude some items from the list citing complete irrelevance to the construct (e.g. “I feel happy when I am working intensely” and “If possible, I would return money to the rightful owner”). They had also recommended some changes on the wordings of a few, which we incorporated. In Step 3, we engaged in protracted and detailed discussions among us (in person, over telephone and over electronic mail), on each of the items that passed the scrutiny of Step 1 and Step 2. This resulted in further reduction of the item pool. For instance, it was argued by one of the authors that the item “When I am working, I forget everything else around me”, invoked an impression that Karma-Yogis (i.e. practitioners of Karma-Yoga) are myopic, cognitively narrow and refuse to see the broader schema of activities and their interconnections, which is inconsistent with the conceptualisation in Rastogi and Pati (2015). Hence, it was dropped from the list. Similarly, two items that generated considerable debate for inclusion were: “I feel it is my duty to contribute to society” and “I am aware of my obligations to society”, pertaining to the dimension of service consciousness. It was felt that both the items presented redundant content, i.e. a sincerity to serve society. We argued and finally reached a consensus that the presence of both would add little to the richness of the construct of service consciousness. Rather, the inclusion of both the items would narrow down the connotation of service consciousness to service to society, which would be inaccurate representation of its definition as espoused by Rastogi and Pati (2015). Alternatively, these would artificially enhance the internal consistency of the scale, which is undesirable (DeVellis 2012). Thus we chose “I am aware of my obligations to society” over “I feel it is my duty to contribute to society” to be included in the final item list. It was felt that the item “I am aware of my obligations to society” indicated a more informed and directed effort towards addressing social problems. We also believed that it connoted the

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awareness that a Karma-Yogi should possess to assess her/his best fit while functioning in a specific social arena. In contrast, the item “I feel it is my duty to contribute to society,” primarily echoed a moralist stance. It sounded generalist, and passive. We also added two negative-worded items (one each for absorption and service consciousness) to their respective item pool in an attempt to limit acquiescence bias in responses (DeVellis 2012). In summary, the above processes helped us in selecting 5 most-representative items for each of the dimensions of Karma-Yoga, thereby providing an initial 10-item KarmaYoga Instrument (KYI-10), which we subjected to parametric analysis in subsequent studies. [The items are provided in Appendix].

STUDY 2 The objective of Study 2 was to investigate factorial validity of KYI-10 as well as test its reliability. Initially, KYI-10 was subjected to a measure purification process. Thereafter appropriate analyses were conducted to investigate dimensionality and reliability of the scale.

Participants The participants consisted of students of two management institutes of repute in India and the management department of a private university in India. Since work is fundamental to every individual (Gandhi 1980), Karma-Yoga is relevant across contexts, organisations, and occupations. This provided us sufficient rationale for requesting students to participate in this study. Upon an examination of the attendance sheet and through convenience sampling, approximately 500 students were identified for the study. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the study as well as guaranteeing confidentiality of the responses was also enclosed.

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A total of 420 usable responses were received, of which 93% belonged to the students enrolled in the Masters of Business Administration course, while 4% belonged to the students admitted in an undergraduate programme in management. The remaining responses were collated from the doctoral scholars. The mean age of the participants was calculated to be 23.58 years (Standard deviation = 2.10), with a minimum of 18 years and maximum of 34 years. Females constituted 44% of the respondents.

Instrument Karma-Yoga (KYI-10). KYI-10 was the 10-item scale derived from Study 1. While 5 items of the scale were intended to assess the dimension of absorption, the other 5 items measured the dimension of service consciousness. Since Rastogi and Pati (2015) defined KarmaYoga as a “state of mind”, we believe that the individual is the best judge of her/his state of mind. Thus we designed the scale to be a self-report. It asked the participants on how frequently they feel the way as described by the items and solicited their responses on a 7-point Likert continuum (1– Never, 7 – Always).

Analysis and findings Preliminary item screening. The literature recommends the following decision rules for retention of items in a measure: (1) inter-item correlation coefficients between 0.30 and 0.70 (Mathiowetz 2003, Kline 1979) (2) item-to-total and item-to-subscale correlation coefficients of 0.50 and above (Tian et al. 2001), and (3) item-component loading score of 0.50 and above (Bearden et al. 2001), given the items have face validity with regard to the appropriate dimension.

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Following these guidelines, we computed the inter-item, item-to-subscale and item-tototal correlation coefficients (provided in Exhibit 2). A closer examination of this exhibit reveals that AB5 exhibited a lower than the mandated item-to-subscale and item-to-total correlation (r = 0.32, p < 0.01). Further, its correlations with most service consciousness items were found to be non-significant. Lastly, its correlation with other absorption items only ranged from r = 0.10 (p < 0.05) to r = 0.20 (p < 0.01), much less than the minimum prescribed inter-item correlations. Thus, AB5 was excluded from further analysis. Similarly, item-total correlation for SC1 was observed to be below the recommended threshold (r = 0.47, p < 0.01) and the inter-item correlations were also not encouraging. However, SC1 displayed an acceptable item-subscale correlation (r = 0.57, p < 0.05), on the basis of which we retained it in the analysis. ------------------------------Insert Exhibit 2 about here -------------------------------Principal component analysis. The 9 remaining items were subjected to a principal component analysis, (with varimax rotation). However, prior to that, the inter-item correlations were examined to detect evidence of possible multicollinearity effects. As observed in Exhibit 2, none of the significant correlation coefficients exceeded 0.90, thereby removing any apprehension of multicollinearity effects. Additionally, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett test of sphericity were also examined to decide whether factor analysis would be appropriate for the items. The KMO measure for sampling adequacy was found to be 0.767, while Bartlett’s Test for sphericity was found to be significant, indicating factorability of the data. Based on the calculated eigenvalues (2.971 and 1.652) for service consciousness and absorption respectively) and the scree plot, we finalised on a two-factor solution that explained 15

51.37% of the extracted variance. It was found that all specific items hypothesised to measure the constructs of absorption and service consciousness were listed under respective factors (Exhibit 3). Barring SC1, which revealed an item-component loading score of -0.450, all other items demonstrated an item-principal component loading score greater than 0.50 (as recommended by Bearden et al. 2001). Thus SC1 was dropped from the instrument. -------------------------------Insert Exhibit 3 about here -------------------------------Further, off late there is an increasingly dominating voice in management and psychological literature that prefers shorter instruments to their long multi-item counterparts (e.g. Gosling et al. 2003, Robins et al. 2001, Fuchs and Diamantopoulos 2009). Although long multiitem instruments are respected in principle for their superior validity and reliability, yet their application puts a severe strain on the researcher’s resources and time (Gosling et al. 2003). Additionally, long scales can generate fatigue, frustration, and boredom in respondents, thus leading them to provide erratic responses (Robbins et al. 2001). Shorter scales are therefore essential. At the same time Costello and Osborne (2005) assert that latent variables with lesser than three items are unstable. Hence, in coherence with the above assertions, we selected the top three items (based on their item-component loadings) to represent absorption and service consciousness respectively. Thus, the items SC2 and AB3 were excluded from the instrument. Internal consistency. Internal consistency, through Cronbach Alpha, was calculated for the subscales and the total scale (i.e. KYI-6). While the absorption subscale exhibited a Cronbach Alpha of 0.737 (95% confidence interval, 0.690 to 0.777), the service consciousness subscale exhibited a Cronbach Alpha of 0.704 (95% confidence interval, 0.651 to 0.749). Cronbach Alpha for the complete Karma-Yoga Instrument (KYI- 6) was estimated to be 0.709 16

(95% confidence interval, 0.663 to 0.750). Confirmatory factor analysis. Thereafter, the six-item Karma-Yoga Instrument (KYI-6), with the two subscales obtained from the principal component analysis and their corresponding indicators were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). CFA holds superior promise for the researchers for it enables the measurement error associated with the scales to be explicitly modelled resulting in refined latent variables (Brahma and Chakraborty 2009). For comparison purposes, a bi-factor model of the scale was contrasted with a monofactor model. In the bi-factor model both the subscales of Karma-Yoga (i.e. absorption and service consciousness) were allowed to correlate with each other with their corresponding items forced to load on them. Similarly, in the mono-factor model, all the six items were made to load on a single underlying factor, signifying a general Karma-Yoga construct. The results of various fit indices, depicted in Exhibit 4, supported the acceptance of the bi-factor conceptualisation of KYI-6 over the mono-factor. It is to be noted that there is no single fit criterion in CFA. Instead, several indices exist that measures the fit of the model from varied perspectives. Therefore researchers (e.g. Hoe 2008) recommend the use of multiple indices to infer about the global fit of a proposed model. The most popular of these fit indices are the CMIN/df, CFI, TLI, NFI and RMSEA (Hoe 2008), whose scores are provided in this research. -------------------------------Insert Exhibit 4 about here -------------------------------STUDY 3 Study 3 was conducted to reconfirm the dimensional structure of the Karma-Yoga Instrument (KYI- 6) in a different sample. Further, preliminary convergent, divergent and 17

nomological validities of the proposed instrument were also estimated.

Participants The participants comprised of 207 working professionals who were participants in the executive education programs in two premier management institutes of India. A survey was distributed to them for their responses, after assuring them of anonymity (verbally as well as through an accompanying written note). It comprised of items from various instruments. The mean age of the participants was calculated to be 37.42 years (Standard deviation: 6.52 years, minimum age: 27 years and maximum age: 57 years). About 14% of the respondents were determined to be females. Further, 58% of the respondents had an undergraduate degree, while 36% had a Master’s Degree and 4% had an M. Phil. or Ph.D. The remaining participants did not reveal their education qualification. The respondents were fairly evenly distributed across public and private sectors. While 49% of the respondents were drawn from the public sector, the remaining were from private organisations representing varied sectors (Information and Communication Technology: 20%, Oil Refinery: 12%, Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction: 5%, Banking and Financial Services: 5%, Pharma and Clinical Research: 5%, Automotive sector: 3%). 1% of the respondents did not mention their industry/ line of work.

Instruments The distributed survey comprised of instruments assessing several variables for validity estimation of the new measure. The details of each of the instruments administered are as follows: Karma-Yoga (KYI-6). KYI-6 was the 6-item self-report scale derived from Study 2 and

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the instrument of interest in this study. While 3 items of the scale were intended to assess the dimension of absorption, the other 3 items measured the dimension of service consciousness. It asked the participants on how frequently they feel the way as described by the items and solicited their responses on a 7-point Likert continuum (1- Never, 7 – Always). Karma-Yoga (KY-10). Menon and Krishnan (2004) developed the KY-10, which is a 10item self-report designed to capture four dimensions, namely significance of work, successful work, detachment from work, and setting an example. The responses were captured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly disagree, 5 – Strongly agree). A sample item from the measure reads as “I feel life is meaningless without work to do”. Karma-Yoga (KY-8). KY-8 is an 8 item self-report scale developed by Mulla and Krishnan (2007) as a refinement of their earlier scale (i.e. Mulla and Krishnan 2006). While in the former instrument they operationalised Karma-Yoga as a two-dimensional construct (i.e. sense of obligation or duty towards others, and absence of desire for rewards), in the present instrument they added an additional dimension, i.e. sense of equanimity, thus converting it to a three-dimensional construct. The responses were captured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly disagree, 5 – Strongly agree). A sample item includes “I feel strong when I am able to control my anger”. Karma-Yoga (KY-5). KY-5 is a self-report instrument developed by Mulla and Krishnan (2008) wherein they revert to their original conceptualisation of Karma-Yoga (i.e. Mulla and Krishnan 2006), however with lesser number of items, i.e. 5 items. Further they discovered through a principal component analysis that the two dimensions of the construct (i.e. ‘sense of obligation or duty towards others’ and ‘absence of desire for rewards’) were indistinguishable. 19

Hence Karma-Yoga was considered a one-dimensional construct. The responses were captured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly disagree, 5 – Strongly agree). A sample item includes “I expect to be rewarded for good work done” (reverse coded). Satisfaction with life scale (SWL). SWL is a 5-item self-report designed by Diener et al. (1985) to measure life-satisfaction as a cognitive-judgmental process. The responses were solicited from the participants on a 5-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly disagree, 5 – Strongly agree). A sample item reads, “I am satisfied with my life”. Subjective happiness scale (SHS). Developed by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999), SHS is a 4-item global subjective measure of happiness, which captures responses on a 7-point Likert scale. Short Depression-Happiness Scale (SDHS). Joseph et al. (2004) developed SDHS for a ‘rapid assessment of well-being’. SDHS is a bipolar scale with three items each measuring the experience of depression and happiness. It seeks response on a 4-point Likert scale (1 – Never, 4 – Often). A sample item reads, “I felt that life was enjoyable”. Conscientiousness Subscale (CONSC). Developed as a part of Mini IPIP Scales by Donnellan et al. (2006), CONSC is a 4-item instrument to assess conscientiousness. The responses were solicited on a 5-point Likert continuum (1 - Not at all like me, 5 – Very much like me). A sample item is “Get chores done right way”. New General Self Efficacy Scale (NGSE). Developed by Chen et al. (2001), NGSE is an 8 item self-report scale. The responses were solicited from the participants on a 5-point Likert scale (1 – Strongly disagree, 5 – Strongly agree). A sample item is “Even when things are tough, I can perform quite well”.

20

Short burnout questionnaire (SBOQ). Malach-Pines (2005) developed the 10-item SBOQ as a response to a need for shorter version of burnout measures. The instrument was designed to capture the essence of an individual’s physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, and mental exhaustion. The items of SBOQ – 10 were to be responded on a 7 point Likert scale (1 – Never, 7 – Always). A sample item includes “Depressed”. Brief social desirability scale (BSDS). BSDS was developed by Haghighat (2007) to assess social desirability. DeVellis (2012) asserts that if an individual was strongly motivated to project himself/herself in a way that society regards as positive, item responses might be distorted. Thus the researcher must exclude items that correlate significantly with that of the total social desirability score. Respondents are required to indicate either “Yes” or “No” to each of the items. While “Yes” is a socially desirable answer and given as “1”, “No” indicates a non-socially desirable answer and is scored a “0”. A sample item reads, “Would you ever lie to people?”

Analysis and Findings Factorial validity. As mentioned earlier, one of the main purposes of Study 3 was to reconfirm the dimensionality of the Karma-Yoga instrument (KYI-6) as established in Study 2 in a different sample. Thus we compared two models - a bi-factor model of the instrument, where the subscales of absorption and service consciousness were made to correlate with each other, with each item forced to load on its hypothesised subscale, and a mono-factor model, where every item was forced to load on an underlying single dimensional Karma-Yoga construct. The results of various fit indices, depicted in Exhibit 5, supported the acceptance of the bi-factor conceptualisation of KYI-6 over the mono-factor. Further, the standardised factor loadings for each of the six items ranged from 0.56 – 0.84. -------------------------------21

Insert Exhibit 5 about here -------------------------------Internal consistency. The internal consistency of each of the two subscales of KYI-6 was estimated with Cronbach Alpha. Thus while we calculated the Cronbach Alpha of the absorption subscale to be 0.735 (95% confidence interval, 0.665 to 0.791), the Cronbach Alpha of service consciousness was estimated to be 0.707 (95% confidence interval, 0.630 to 0.769). The Cronbach Alpha of the complete KYI-6 instrument was calculated to be 0.789 (95% confidence interval, 0.741 to 0.830). Thus, the scale exhibited moderate internal consistency. Social desirability. Since BSDS reported an abysmally low internal consistency (α= 0.186), we dropped it from further analysis. Consequently, we were unable to estimate the social desirability of the KYI-6 items. Convergent validity. As a test of convergent validity, KYI-6 and its subscales should correlate positively with the existing instruments of Karma-Yoga. As observed in Exhibit 6, the correlations are in expected directions. However, caution ought to be exercised in deciphering the results, for the internal consistency reliabilities (measured through Cronbach Alpha) of the existing measures were found to be very low (KY-10: α =0.605, KY-8: α = 0.597, KY-5: α = 0.364). Nevertheless, such findings revalidate our argument on the necessity of a new measure of Karma-Yoga that this study offers. Nomological validityIII. Nomological validity of KYI-6 was established through investigating its relationship with relevant constructs from extant research. Specifically, we

III

It must be noted that exclusive empirical literature on Karma-Yoga is largely unavailable and its nomological network is highly limited. However, Karma-Yoga had often been used in consonance with the other forms of yoga (i.e. bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, etc., Joshi 1965) during various intervention programs (e.g. Adhia et al. 2010a, 2010b). This is in keeping with the philosophy that all forms of yoga lead to a state where the individual is free from conditioning, seeking, and grief (Joshi 1965). Hence in this research we took the liberty to borrow various outcome variables from studies that used yoga as a “general” construct. This also helped us in expanding the nomological network of the Karma-Yoga construct.

22

chose the constructs of self-efficacy, conscientiousness, happiness, burnout and life-satisfaction for this research, owing to their repeated appearance in the Yoga literature. Karma-Yoga related positively with conscientiousness and life satisfaction (Mulla and Krishnan 2006), while Adhia et al. (2010a, 2010b) concluded from an experiment that intervention through the yoga way of life (that included lectures on Karma-Yoga) led to an enhanced emotional intelligence and a significant decrease in job burnout among individuals. Further Joshi (1965) had argued that adherence to Yoga (that includes Karma-Yoga) contributed in stilling one’s mind which in turn helps individuals reach the state of happiness. Lastly Waelde et al. (2004) had found that exposing dementia patient family caregivers to yoga-meditation programme brought about significant decrease in their depression and anxiety levels, while enhancing their perceived selfefficacy. In summary, KYI-6 ought to exhibit positive relationship with happiness, self-efficacy, conscientiousness, and life satisfaction. Alternatively it ought to relate negatively with burnout. The results depicted in Exhibit 6, corroborate the past findings as well as arguments related to the construct, thereby establishing the nomological validity of KYI-6. The instrument was found to relate positively with life satisfaction (r = 0.29, p <0.01), happiness (r = 0.32, p < 0.01), conscientiousness (r = 0.20, p < 0.01)IV, and self-efficacy (r = 0.36, p < 0.01). Alternatively, it related negatively with burnout (r = -0.21, p <0.01). Discriminant validity. The discriminant validity of the measure was established through multiple steps. First, as noted earlier in the confirmatory factor analyses of the instrument (i.e. Study 2 and the current study), the suitability of the bi-factor model (as indicated by the fit indices) in representing Karma-Yoga was found to be superior to the mono-factor model. This provides suitable proof on the discriminant validity of the measure. Second, the correlation IV

The measure of conscientiousness reported low internal consistency (α= 0.579). Therefore, the results vis-àvis its relationship with Karma-Yoga ought to be read with caution.

23

coefficient between the subscales of the measure was calculated to be less than 0.70 (r = 0.69, p < 0.01), thus providing additional proof on discriminant validityV. Lastly, KYI-6 was correlated with the total score of depression and total score of happiness, derived from SDHS VI. While happiness exhibited a positive correlation with KYI-6 (r = 0.20, p < 0.01), depression was found to correlate negatively with it (r = -0.18, p < 0.05), thus establishing the discriminant validity of the measure. -------------------------------Insert Exhibit 6 about here -------------------------------DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The primary purpose of this research was to (a) empirically identify the structure of Karma-Yoga, the core of Hindu work ethic, and (b) develop a current, practical, and psychometrically sound measure for it. We initiated this research by critiquing the extant literature on Karma-Yoga in the management stream. Next, drawing upon Rastogi and Pati’s (2015) conceptualisation of Karma-Yoga, we conducted three distinct studies to develop and validate a six-item Karma-Yoga Instrument (KYI-6). The items composing the scale are drawn from literature, with a few of them modified to ably reflect the content of the construct. Through various analytical tools such as content analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, three best representative items were identified from the initial item pool to assess each of the subscales of Karma-Yoga, i.e. absorption and service

V

VI

This is in confirmation with Mathiowetz (2003) who suggests that if correlation coefficient between two assessments ranges between r = 0.70 – 1, then the two assessments most likely are measuring the same construct. For calculating the total score of depression and happiness we totalled the responses of the corresponding three items related respectively to depression and happiness.

24

consciousness. Each of the subscales as well as the entire measure displayed moderate internal consistency reliability as well as acceptable discriminant validity. In addition, KYI-6 showed significant relationship with various constructs identified from the literature of Yoga, thereby suggesting its nomological validity. This research contributes towards the understanding of Karma-Yoga, the core of Hindu work ethic. Despite the philosophical richness of the Hindu tradition, coupled with the economic and demographic importance of Hindu populace, the manner in which Hindus express their beliefs at work is largely unknown. Richardson et al. (2014), seeking common ground between Hindu and Islamic traditions, discussed at length the importance of Karma (action or work) in Hinduism. This research goes a step further in identifying Karma-Yoga as the core of Hindu work ethic and operationalising the same. Further our research has several methodological strengths. First, while the available scales of Karma-Yoga are both psychometrically weak as well as anchored on weak theoretical foundations, KYI-6 overcomes both the limitations thus providing confidence to researchers on the findings related to it. Additionally, the emergence of this scale shall encourage triangulation of research findings involving Karma-Yoga. Second, we reported three different studies that jointly facilitated a very comprehensive scale development effort. Third, unique and independent samples were utilised in each phase of this endeavour. Such utilisation contributed in limiting sample specific biases. It also helped us in assessing the possible invariance of KYI-6 across samples, thus enhancing our confidence on its stability. However, our study is not without its limitations. First, the validity assessments provided are preliminary in nature to the extent that these were based on correlation of KYI-6 with other established scales. Hence, future research must incorporate regression analyses to check for validity more conclusively. Additionally, future research must also investigate the possibility of

25

different antecedents and consequences for each of the subscales of KYI-6 to establish their discriminant validity decisively. Second, owing to the low internal consistency of the existing instruments of Karma-Yoga (i.e. KY-10, KY-8, and KY-5), we were unsure on the convergent validity of KYI-6. Even the estimated confidence intervals of our scale revealed that at best its internal consistency could be characterized as moderate. This calls for further research efforts to build more theoretically anchored as well as psychometrically robust instruments of KarmaYoga. It may be noted here that the confidence interval of Cronbach Alpha calculated for a test employing a smaller sample size is often wider (Iacobucci & Duhachek, 2003). Further, an enhancement of the number of items could also help increase the internal consistency of the measure (Iacobucci & Duhachek, 2003). Towards that we call upon interested scholars to investigate the internal consistency of our measure in a larger sample. Also, we have provided all the items (i.e. KY 10) as an Appendix to this study. Researchers may rework a different combination of items to improve the internal consistency of the measure. Third, thanks to the very low internal consistency of BSDS, we were unable to check the possible social desirability independence of the new scale. Thereby, attempts should also be made to check the vulnerability of KYI-6 to social desirability bias using different measures (e.g. Crowne and Marlowe 1960, Reynolds 1982). Fourth, while we had adopted procedural remedies to limit common method bias (see Pasdakoff et al., 2003), there is still a possibility that this study suffers from common method variance. Future research on Karma-Yoga should attempt data collection from varied sources and at different points in time. Lastly, since Karma-Yoga is universally applicable to all (Gandhi 1980), the potential invariance of this measure across cultural and occupational contexts and cohorts based on age, gender, education and work experience could be examined.

26

EXHIBIT1: SUMMARY OF STUDIES DEVELOPING MEASURES OF KARMA-YOGA Study

No. of items

Narayanan & Krishnan (2003) 8-items

Observations and comments The assumption that Karma-Yoga is a single factor and that all the 8 items measure a single dimension was not tested. While the reliability (Cronbach Alpha) was reported to be 0.74, there was no evidence available on the scale’s validity.

Menon & Krishnan (2004)

10-items

The assumption that the 10 items measure the four dimensions of Karma-Yoga, i.e. significance of work, successful work, detachment from work, and setting an example, was not tested. Further the reliability of each of the subscale was not provided, while the reliability (Cronbach Alpha) of the complete scale was reported to be 0.64. No evidence for the validity of the scale was provided.

Mulla & Krishnan (2006)

7-items

The 7-items measure the two factors of KarmaYoga as proposed by the authors, i.e. sense of duty (2 items) and absence of desire for rewards (5 items). While the reliability (Cronbach Alpha) for the dimension of sense of duty was reported to be 0.56, the dimension of

27

absence of desire for rewards (Cronbach Alpha) reports a reliability of 0.64. Additionally, analyses to test the validity of the measure were also reported.

Mulla & Krishnan (2007)

8-items

The scale assessed three dimensions of KarmaYoga: sense of duty, absence of desire for rewards, and sense of equanimity, with Cronbach Alpha being 0.69, 0.68, and 0.50 respectively.

Mulla & Krishnan (2008)

5-items

The scale is adapted from the best performing items of Mulla & Krishnan (2006). However, a single factor is obtained upon principal component analysis, which is much in contrast to the bi-factor conceptualisation proposed by Mulla & Krishnan (2006). The reliability (Cronbach Alpha) of the measure was 0.66.

Mulla & Krishnan (2014)

18-items

Mulla & Krishnan (2007) had originally constructed the scale. It assessed three dimensions of Karma-Yoga: duty orientation, indifference to rewards, and equanimity, with Cronbach Alpha in the current study (2014) being 0.58, 0.62 and 0.43 respectively.

28

EXHIBIT 2: INTER-ITEM AND ITEM-TO-TOTAL CORRELATIONS OF KYI – 10 Mean

S.D.

AB1

AB2

AB3

AB4

AB5

SC1

(R)

(R)

SC2

SC3

SC4

SC5

ABSORP

SERVCON

AB1

5.04

1.10

1.00

AB2

4.78

1.16

0.62**

1.00

AB3

5.00

1.24

0.28**

0.33**

1.00

AB4

4.85

1.17

0.41**

0.43**

0.38**

1.00

AB5 (R)

3.78

1.28

0.10*

0.20**

0.13**

0.11*

1.00

SC1 (R)

5.41

1.56

0.07

0.01

0.08

0.08

0.26**

1.00

SC2

4.43

1.30

0.13**

0.12*

0.16**

0.25**

-0.08

0.08

1.00

SC3

5.27

1.23

0.11*

0.06

0.10*

0.17**

-0.06

0.19**

0.44**

1.00

SC4

5.17

1.14

0.24**

0.22**

0.10*

0.17**

0.00

0.21**

0.41**

0.47**

1.00

SC5

5.54

1.22

0.21**

0.21**

0.17**

0.19**

-0.02

0.27**

0.30**

0.38**

0.48**

1.00

ABSORP

4.69

0.78

0.71**

0.77**

0.65**

0.70**

0.49**

0.16**

0.17**

0.11*

0.21**

0.23**

1.00

SERVCON

5.16

0.86

0.22**

0.17**

0.18**

0.25**

0.04

0.57**

0.65**

0.72**

0.73**

0.71**

0.26**

1.00

KARMYOG

4.93

0.65

0.57**

0.58**

0.51**

0.59**

0.32**

0.47**

0.53**

0.54**

0.61**

0.60**

0.77**

0.82**

KARMYOG

1.00

Note: ** p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; AB (1-5): absorption items; SC (1-5): service consciousness items; ABSORP: Total score of absorption subscale; SERVCON: Total score of service consciousness subscale; KARMYOG: Total score of Karma-Yoga construct (as measured by KYI-10); (R) against any item indicates that the said item is reverse coded. All the items were measured on a 7-point Likert continuum. 29

EXHIBIT 3: ROTATED COMPONENT MATRIX OF KYI-9 Factors SC SC3

.773

SC4

.763

SC5

.692

SC2

.659

SC1 (R)

-.450

AB

AB2

.833

AB1

.790

AB4

.707

AB3

.612

Note: AB (1-4) are items of absorption; SC (1-5) are items of service consciousness

30

EXHIBIT 4: MODEL FIT INDICES COMPARISON, (STUDY 2, N = 420) Model

Acceptable

Bi-factor

Mono-factor

Fit Indices

Values

model output

model output

(Hoe 2008)

(6-item instrument)

(6-item instrument)

CMIN/ DF

< 3.00

2.205

22.495

CFI

0.9 - 1

0.983

0.661

GFI

0.9 - 1

0.986

0.845

NFI

0.9 - 1

0.970

0.655

TLI

0.9 - 1

0.968

0.435

RMSEA

< 0.08

0.054

0.226

Note: CMIN/df: Ratio of chi-square statistic to the degrees of freedom; TLI: Tucker-Lewis Index; NFI: Normed Fit Index; GFI: Goodness of Fit Index; CFI: Confirmatory Fit Index; RMSEA: Root mean square error of approximation

31

EXHIBIT 5: MODEL FIT INDICES COMPARISON (STUDY 3, N = 207) Model

Acceptable

Bi-factor

Mono-factor

Fit Indices

Values

model output

model output

(Hoe 2008)

(6-item instrument)

(6-item instrument)

CMIN/ DF

< 3.00

2.236

6.273

CFI

0.9 - 1

0.972

0.867

GFI

0.9 - 1

0.972

0.910

NFI

0.9 - 1

0.952

0.848

TLI

0.9 - 1

0.948

0.779

RMSEA

< 0.08

0.077

0.160

Note: CMIN/df: Ratio of chi-square statistic to the degrees of freedom; TLI: Tucker-Lewis Index; NFI: Normed Fit Index; GFI: Goodness of Fit Index; CFI: Confirmatory Fit Index; RMSEA: Root mean square error of approximation

32

EXHIBIT 6: INTER-CORRELATIONS BETWEEN VARIABLES Mean

SD

KY-10

KY-8

KY-5

SWL

SHS

CONSC

NGSE

SBOQ

AB-3

SC-3

KYI-6

(α= 0.605)

(α= 0.597)

(α= 0.364)

(α= 0.792)

(α= 0.776)

(α= 0.579)

(α= 0.867)

(α= 0.900)

(α= 0.735)

(α= 0.707)

(α= 0.789)

KY-10

3.91

0.45

1.00

KY-8

3.31

0.47

-0.07

1.00

KY-5

3.67

0.46

0.16*

0.65**

1.00

SWL

3.50

0.73

0.15*

0.22**

0.23**

1.00

SHS

5.39

1.03

0.19**

0.28**

0.31**

0.47**

1.00

CONSC

3.84

0.74

-0.01

0.18**

0.09

0.14*

0.25**

1.00

NGSE

4.09

0.56

0.32**

0.16*

0.25**

0.40**

0.42**

0.20**

1.00

SBOQ

2.85

0.97

-0.09

-0.40**

-0.31**

-0.34**

-0.54**

-0.32**

-0.36**

1.00

AB-3

5.70

0.79

0.35**

0.08

0.23**

0.20**

0.23**

0.18*

0.35**

-0.24**

1.00

SC-3

5.71

0.90

0.38**

0.17*

0.37**

0.30**

0.32**

0.17*

0.28**

-0.12

0.52**

1.00

KYI-6

5.71

0.74

0.42**

0.15*

0.35**

0.29**

0.32**

0.20**

0.36**

-0.21**

0.85**

0.89**

1.00

Note: **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05; KY-10: Karma-Yoga Scale (Menon and Krishnan, 2004); KY-8: Karma-Yoga Scale (Mulla and Krishnan, 2007); KY-5: Karma-Yoga Scale (Mulla and Krishnan, 2008); SWL: Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al, 1985); SHS: Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper, 1999); CONSC: Conscientiousness subscale (Donnellan et al, 2006); NGSE: New General Self Efficacy Scale (Chen et al, 2001); SBOQ: Short Burnout Questionnaire (Pines, 2005); AB-3: Absorption subscale, SC-3: Service Consciousness subscale and KYI-6: Karma-Yoga Instrument proposed by this study. KY-10, KY-8, KY-5, SWL, CONSC and NGSE were measured on a 5-point Likert continuum. SHS, SBOQ and KYI-6 (AB-3 and SC-3) were measured on a 7point Likert continuum.

33

APPENDIX: KARMA-YOGA INSTRUMENT Please read each statement carefully and decide how frequently you feel this way. Indicate by choosing the appropriate number (1-7) that best describes the frequency of your feeling. Items

Item

Scale

code While working, I am completely

AB1

focused on the task at hand* While working, I have total

AB2

AB3

AB4

AB5

Almost never

Never

2 Almost never

Never

2 Almost never

1 SC3

very rewarding* I make personal sacrifices to serve

Never

2

1

working (R) Volunteering to help someone is

Almost never

1

working* I often think about others while

Never

2

1

while working I feel like being in total control when

Almost never

1

concentration* I feel time passes away speedily

Never

Never

2 Almost never

1 SC2

others

Never

2 Almost never

1

I do all I can to support others*

SC4

Never

2 Almost never

1 I feel helping others is a waste of

SC1

time (R) I am aware of my obligations to society*

Never

2 Almost never

1 SC5

Never

2 Almost never

1

2

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Rarely Sometimes Often 3

4

5

Very often Always 6

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

7

Very often Always 6

Note: The (*) items are part of Karma-Yoga Instrument (KYI-6); (R) indicates reverse coded items; AB (1-5) are absorption items; SC (1-5) are service consciousness items

34

7

7

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