Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: ABSTRACT This paper interrogates how the discourse of workplace spirituality in human resource development (HRD) operates as a tool of colonization. Through a systematic review of 48 articles published between 1997 and March 2025, the study uncovers recurring patterns of spiritual appropriation in which non‐Western traditions are detached from their cultural and ethical roots and repurposed to serve organizational imperatives. Drawing on decolonial theory, particularly Wael Hallaq's critique of modern knowledge regimes, the analysis clarifies how these practices reinforce colonial hierarchies of knowledge and power, even as they profess to promote meaning and ethical conduct. The paper introduces the concept of spiritual cannibalism to theorize how organizations consume and reconfigure living spiritual traditions into decontextualized managerial tools. By showing workplace spirituality as a contested site of colonial encounter, the study calls on HRD scholars to adopt decolonial approaches that respect the integrity of diverse knowledge systems rather than assimilating them into Western organizational logics.
DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.70009
Author: Shoaib Ul‐Haq
Institution: University of Greenwich
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,700
OpenAlex ID: W4417292430