1Professor, School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Sion-Trombay Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2Founder and Director, Center for Oneness and Transforming Leadership, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, rkvenkat@temple.edu
3Independent Researcher, No. 38, 2nd Main, Amarjyoti Layout, R.T. Nagar Post, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, navneeth.p@gmail.com
*Corresponding author email id: zubin@tiss.edu
Online published on 7 January, 2019.
The purpose of this study is to validate the construct of Karma-Yoga, i.e., fulfilling one's obligations with equanimity and without hankering after extrinsic rewards.
We validate the construct of Karma-Yoga using self-concepts; i.e., the answer to the questions “Who am I?” We collected data from 274 students in a survey which included a scale on Karma-Yoga and an open-ended test of self-concepts.
We found that individuals who score high on Karma-Yoga also have more number of social identities in their self-concept. In this manner we provide a preliminary explanation as to how by expressing their social identities, individuals who are high in Karma-Yoga are able to perform actions without expectation of material rewards. Being a survey in which both independent and dependent variables were collected at the same time, this study suffers from common method variance.
This study shows one possible mechanism by which leaders can motivate followers without providing extrinsic rewards.
Karma-Yoga can provide a novel explanation for moral behaviour beyond the theories of self-interest. Understanding how self-concepts make Karma-Yoga possible, is an important step in understanding Karma-Yoga, the Indian model of moral development.
Self-concept, Karma-yoga, Twenty-statements test
