Enabling Innovation through Workplace Spirituality: Insights from Indonesian Information Professionals

Background Public-sector information institutions operate amid continuous change, rising service demands, and complex tasks. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources and Conservation of Resources perspectives, this study examines whether workplace spirituality functions as a motivational resource linking job characteristics, transformational leadership, and coworker incivility to innovative work behavior (IWB) among information professionals. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 150 employees of Indonesian public libraries (n = 93) and archives (n = 57). Hypotheses were tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), including assessment of discriminant validity (Fornell–Larcker, HTMT), collinearity (VIF), effect sizes (f 2 ), predictive relevance (Q 2 ), and model fit (SRMR). Result Workplace spirituality showed the strongest association with IWB (β = 0.652) and accounted for a substantial share of the associations of job characteristics (indirect β = 0.437) and transformational leadership (indirect β = 0.093) with IWB, indicating complementary partial mediation rather than full mediation. The total effect of coworker incivility on IWB was not significant (β = 0.105); its association operated indirectly through workplace spirituality (β = −0.078). The model explained 63.0% of the variance in workplace spirituality and 68.5% in IWB, with predictive relevance established (Q 2  = 0.325 and 0.434). These patterns are consistent with a model in which structural and interpersonal work conditions relate to innovation largely — though not exclusively — through employees’ experienced meaning, community, and value congruence, although the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. Conclusion The findings suggest that cultivating workplace spirituality (meaningful work, sense of community, value alignment), enriching job design, and curbing coworker incivility may support innovation in public libraries and archives. Generalization to galleries and museums awaits further research.