Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to
Business Performance
Ziauddin Sardar
1
, Muhammad Nafik Hadi Ryandono
2
and Ririn Tri Ratnasari
2
1
Postgraduate School, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
2
Department of Islamic Economics, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
Keywords: Spiritual capital, Islamic perspective, business performance
Abstract: This study aims to understand the spiritual capital in the Islamic perspective by conducting an underlying
virtuous key analysis as reflected in business performance. The general definition of capital is the amount of
money or material goods owned by the company. This kind of definition leads to the capitalism which is
always related to money and material wealth. Today it has been developed what is called spiritual capital.
Spiritual capital differs from other capital that generally has material resources. The value of religion cannot
go hand in hand with the goals and interests of the organization. Similarly, in business the value of religion
is only reflected when the rest time for prayer arrives and when it has come out of the mosque and back to
the office then the task as a servant of God seemed forgotten. Based on the description, this research leads to
the spiritual capital of business organizations as one of the important aspects of non-material in business
performance. The motivation of this research cannot be separated from the guidance of Islam as a religious
kaffah that has provided guidelines for human life in carrying the mandate. This research uses
phenomenology method, which explores about organizational culture nuanced ukhuwah Islamiyah through
interviews conducted. The study found some findings on the impact of Spiritual Capital-based ukhuwah
Islamiyah covering several aspects including: intention, taqwa, ihsan, mutual trust, etqan, honesty,
consultation, and patience as well as the role of spiritual leadership where for companies and individuals
who instilled spiritual capital in his performance actually never releases the role of religion in the activities
undertaken.
1 INTRODUCTION
The emergence of spirituality awareness in the world
of work has recently become a special concern in
various companies. This is because spirituality to
give meaning to the work that actually will create
love for work. When someone has loved his job, he
will work in totality and earnestly to give the best
results. If previously employees were given training
in the form of abilities and abilities, now the
company began working with training that led to
spiritual products. Spiritual capital now makes a lot
of interest from companies that will make the spirit
of spirituality of human resources.
Some companies still think that spirituality is a
matter of religion and far from the world of work.
Actually, spiritual awareness is needed to support
change in the context of organizational response to
increasingly complex challenges (Hendrawan,
2009). Anything that encourages spiritual awareness
in the workplace, must be understood from several
important things (Hendrawan, 2009). First, is the
tendency where someone begins to search for more
important meanings of life or strives to find greater
meaning from their own lives, building harmony
with the realities of the larger and higher universe.
Second, that someone in dealing with problems and
problems must be manifested in confidence and
dependent on God not on their own.
In the presentation of Zohar and Marshal (2004)
related to the spiritual meaning of capital that has
nothing to do with other religions or systems.
According to them, spirituality based on religious
values or other systems will be faced in a non-
universal or non-existent manner similar to those in
those who do not have a religious belief system.
Therefore, it is necessary that the spiritual capital
needed for the organization, society, and
participation in a global and pluralist society today,
to be deep capital has meaning in value, purpose and
Sardar, Z., Nafik Hadi Ryandono, M. and Tri Ratnasari, R.
Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to Business Performance.
DOI: 10.5220/0007539801810185
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School (ICPS 2018), pages 181-185
ISBN: 978-989-758-348-3
Copyright
c
2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
181
passion for humans. In this case, universality
improves spiritual conditions on common values and
is not limited to the practice of certain religious
beliefs. Lowder (2005) explains that there is a
relationship between spirituality and religion. From
this it is known that spiritual capital is similar to
modality. But he said that the relationship that exists
between spirituality and vice versa makes
enthusiasm a problem in the workplace for
employees and management.
Spiritual values in the company will put
employees in the right position as humans.
Similarly, employees are able to interpret work as
worship and the realization of accountability to the
final stakeholder (Allah). This will have an impact
on high organizational commitment. Gozhali (2002)
found evidence that the construct of religiosity
dimensions of belief, dimensions of commitment,
dimensions of behavior, positive relationships and
work commitment. Furthermore, there is also
evidence that work commitment and involvement
have a positive effect on job satisfaction. This
religiosity construct is more directed at the quality of
appreciation and attitude of one's life based on
religious values in question. So it is clearer on the
substance of the noble values of religion and the
habit of turning away from religious formalism.
Kale and Shrivastava (2003) state that realizing a
value-spirituality workplace is not only able to
create harmonization in the work environment but
will also produce good benefits. Therefore,
companies need to always look for tools and
methods for spiritual needs and that can increase
morale in the workplace.
2 METHODS
This study belongs to the type of qualitative
research. Moleong (2007) provides a definition of
qualitative research. According to him that
qualitative research intends to understand the
phenomenon of what is experienced by the subject
of research such as behavior, perception, motivation,
action, word form and language, in a special context
that is natural and by utilizing various natural
methods.
The research method used in this study is
phenomenology. Moleong (2014: 14) explains that
phenomenology is a method of awareness from one's
main perspective. Phenomenology is often used as a
general assumption to refer to the subjective
experience of various subjects encountered.
Moleong (2014: 15) also explains that
phenomenology is a thinking view that emphasizes
its focus on subjective experiences experienced by
humans and interpretations of the world. So,
phenomenology tries to understand how the world
looks to others.
In terms of data collection methods, researchers
refer to the qualitative data collection strategies
described by Creswell (2007), among others are: 1)
Observations, 2) Interview, and 3) Documentation.
The object in this study is PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa,
a developer company located in Sidoarjo regency.
This company is well known as a company that
often holds religious activities. While the informant
from this research is Mr. Bakhtiar Rosyaduddin. He
is the director and owner of this company. Mr.
Bakhtiar was chosen as an informant based on the
consideration that he was the person who knew the
ins and outs of organizational culture and also for his
involvement in the implementation of Islamic values
in the efforts he led. The location of the interview is
in the office of PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa located in
Deltasari AN-40, Sidoarjo.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Spiritual Capital
Spiritual Capital (SC) is a new paradigm on the
foundation of current business philosophy and
practice. Spiritual is a derivative of the word
spirituality (from the word spirit) taken from English
which means "spirit" and from the Latin word
spiritus which means "to breathe". Spirituality
means something that is universal, namely the value,
meaning, and purpose of human life does not depend
on any religion adopted by someone (Zohar and
Marshal, 2005, p. 48).
Spirituality is considered multidimensional,
namely existential dimensions and religious
dimensions. The existential dimension focuses on
the purpose and meaning of life while the religious
dimension is more focused on worship or one's
relationship with God the Almighty, its neighbors
and the surrounding environment. Spirituality as a
two-dimensional concept. The vertical dimension is
the relationship with God or the Supreme Being
leading a person's life, while the horizontal
dimension is a person's relationship with himself,
with others and with the environment. There is an
ongoing relationship between two dimensions.
(Hawari, 2002)
According to Mr. Bakhtiar, spiritual capital has a
very important role in a company, besides of course
ICPS 2018 - 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School
182
capital in the form of material. Without spiritual
capital, the company and employees will run like
robots. They just walk to carry out their activities
and obligations as workers but not the added value
obtained by the company or employee. According to
him, if a company runs without being based on
spiritual capital, he believes that the company will
not be able to run for a long time, even if it is
capable it will tend to stagnate because of the
absence of added value. Spiritual capital in a
company is like a tree root. Without a root, a tree
cannot live much and less grow. That is why Mr.
Bakhtiar always puts forward religious activities in
his company and he also often talks directly both
personally and in groups to his employees so that the
spirituality of the employees and companies he leads
is maintained. Mr. Bakhtiar also says that someone
who has high knowledge will be in vain if he does
not have good spirituality.
3.2 Spiritual Capital in Islamic
Perspective
Spiritual capital arises because it is based on the
awareness that there is another form of capital that
must be in business. This view arises because of
errors that see that business organizations are
basically not bound to spirituality which results in
human behavior that is no longer humanistic and
transcendental. This is the end of secular core values
that make people separate and spread between souls
(nonmaterial) and physical (material). Muslim will
not be separated from their identity as Muslim
wherever they are and in whatever role they carry. In
the business world, they will always act on the basis
of divine value. Rice (1999) describes practices
related to Muslims that cannot be separated from the
principles of Islamic business ethics. These
principles include monotheism, justice, and khilafah.
All of these principles must be reflected in the
business practices of a Muslim. Submission and
adherence to the principles derived from God's
guidance is the capital that must be owned by a
Muslim businessman. Not having spiritual capital
can make people as people who are increasingly
stingy in accumulating their possessions and not
caring and sensitive to spiritual needs and also the
needs of those around them. When faith has been
abandoned then all means will be justified and make
matter as the peak of happiness. This is contrary to
the spirit of Islamic values that sees happiness as the
peace of the soul (muthmainnah). With the existence
of spiritual capital will make someone always try to
pursue not only the happiness of the world but also
the happiness of the afterlife and not only happiness
himself but also the happiness of his brothers.
The intention of a person to establish a business
will also affect how much spiritual capital can be
implemented in his company. For Mr. Bakhtiar, his
intention to establish a company was solely to
imitate the Prophet Muhammad and his companions
who were traders or entrepreneurs. Mr. Bakhtiar
believes that by imitating the profession of the
Prophet Muhammad, he will also get blessings from
Allah SWT. While the reason Mr. Bakhtiar decided
to become a businessman in the property sector was
because he saw that many Indonesians who had not
been able to buy a house even though the house was
a necessity due to the high prices of houses
circulating in the market. So from Mr. Bakhtiar to
establish a property business at an affordable price
so that the middle class can afford a home.
3.3 Implementation of Spiritual capital
and Its Impact to Business
Performance
In this research, researchers found the
implementation of Spiritual Capital owned by PT
Maxima Jaya Perkasa embodied in the daily
activities of the company. The motto of this
company is "Pray First and Then Safety". Every
morning the employees are gathered to read the
Qur'an together and understand its meaning. After
reading the Qur'an the employees are welcome to
perform the Dhuha Prayers. After Dhuha prayers the
employees perform their activities according to their
respective duties and responsibilities. In addition,
corporate leaders often say to the employees that the
success he achieved cannot be separated from how
the quality of the worship of the person. Chairman
of the company PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa carry out
the Daud fasting that he has done for years. This
indirectly gives an example to its employees so that
there are also some employees who begin to perform
Daud fasting to follow the habits of their leaders. In
an effort to improve employee performance, PT
Maxima Jaya Perkasa's management also rewards
employees if they can meet the annual targets set by
the company's chairman. The prize is to go umroh
with all employees and company leaders at the end
of the year. So this of course makes the employees
more enthusiastic in working in order to meet the
target and they can go umroh for free. This prize is
only implemented this year, years before the prize if
it meets the target company then the employees will
get additional incentives in the form of money.
However, it turns out the response of employees of
Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to Business Performance
183
the company to this umroh prize is extraordinary, it
is proven in June the annual target of the company
has been fulfilled so that the employees later this
year will go umroh together. When this is confirmed
to one of the employees, he says that his greatest
motivation to immediately reach the company's
target is that he can go umroh. According to him,
going umroh has a much more meaningful value
than just getting extra money incentives at the end of
the year.
The spiritual values that run within this company
are inseparable from the educational background of
the company owner. The owner of PT Maxima Jaya
Perkasa is a graduate of boarding school since junior
high school until senior high school. When he
studied at undergraduate, he took the Sharia majors
at the State Islamic University Sunan Ampel
Surabaya. He graduated from Master of Islamic
Economics at Airlangga University and majored in
Islamic Economics. The science of religion that he
got from an early age is always applied in his daily
activities and it succeeded in bringing him to
success.
CONCLUSION
Spiritual capital in Islam certainly will not be
separated from the Islamic spirituality itself Islam
kaffah (comprehensive) which covers all aspects of
life and is based on aqidah and tauhid. Spiritual
capital in the public view is already the beginning of
awareness in many business-related thinking that
spirituality is important and has an influence on
business as well as other capital (Malloch, 2010). In
this concept, tazkiyah (purification) is still needed as
Mulawarman concept (2009), where in this concept
is carried out continuous and dynamic purification
process so that orientation to God is always reflected
in the beginning of the process until the end of
company activity. In this case, spiritual capital in the
view of Islam must certainly align its intentions and
goals solely to obtain His blessing through our
submission and our love for Him which can be
realized also through organizational culture.
REFERENCES
Ariawan, dkk. 2016. “The Role Of Spiritual Capital,
Human Capital, Structural Capital, And Relational
Capital Of Smes To Improving On Performance: Study
Literature”, South East Asia Journal of Contemporary
Busines and Law, Vol. 11, Issue 2 (Dec.) ISSN 2289-
1560.
As’udi, M dan Triyuwono, I. 2001. Akuntansi Syariah:
Memformulasikan Konsep Laba dalam Konteks
Metafora Zakat. Jakarta: Salemba Empat.
Branine, M. dan A. Pollard. 2010. “Human resource
management with Islamic management principles: A
dialectic for a reverse diffusion in management”. Vol.
39 No. 6, page. 712-727.
Campuzano, L.G dan S.S. Seteroff. 2010. A New
approach to a Spiritual BusinessOrganization and
Employee Satisfaction. Eastern Academy of
Management.
Fuada, dkk. 2015. The Influence Of Intellectual Capital
And Spiritual Capital On Corporate Performance”,
Jurnal Akuntansi, Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis
Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar.
Ghozali, I. 2002. Pengaruh Religiositas terhadap
Komitmen Organisasi, Keterlibatan Kerja, Kepuasan
Kerja dan Produktivitas. Jurnal Bisnis Strategi. Vol.
9/Juli/Th. VII. p. 1-13.
Hawari, D. 2002. “Dimensi religi dalam praktek psikiatri
dan psikologi”, FK UI, Jakarta.
Hendrawan, Sanerya. 2009.Spiritual Management”,
Bandung, Mizan.
Kale, S. H. dan S. Shrivastava. 2003. The Enneagram
System for Enhancing Workplace Spirituality. Journal
of Management Development. Vol. 22. no. 4. p. 308-
328.
Khairi, M, Shadiq. 2013. Memahami Spiritual Capital
Dalam Organisasi Bisnis Melalui Perspektif Islam.
JAMAL, Vol. 4, No. 2, Agustus, page. 165-329.
Khobir, A. 2010. “Islam dan Kapitalisme”. Religia, Vol.
13, No. 2, Oktober, page. 225-238.
Lowder, T .2005. A Ghost in the Machine: The
Important Role of Workplace Spirituality”. A new
Dimensions.
Malloch, T.R. 2010. “Spiritual capital and practical
wisdom. Journal of Management Development”. Vol.
29, No. 7/8, page. 755-759.
Moleong, L.J. 2007. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif.
Rosda. Bandung.
Rice, G. 1999. “Islamic ethics and the implications for
business. Journal of Business Ethics”. Vol. 18, No. 4,
hal. 345.
Suryadi. 2016. “Pendidikan Islam : tela‟ah konseptual
mengenai konsep jiwa manusia”, Jurnal pendidikan
agama Islam, Talim Vol. 14 No. 1.
Tasmara, Toto. 2002.Membudayakan Etos Kerja
Islami”, Jakarta, Gema Insani.
Ulum, Ihyaul. 2009.Intellectual Capital : Konsep dan
Kajian Empiris”, Yogyakarta, Graha Ilmu.
Weiss, Joseph W. 2009. Business Ethics: A Stakeholder
and Issues Management Approach Fifth Edition.
Canada: South-Western.
Zohar, D., & Marshall, I. 2005.Spiritual Capital:
Memberdayakan SQ di Dunia Bisnis”, Bandung,
Mizan.
ICPS 2018 - 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School
184
Zohar, D., & Marshall, I. 2004.Spiritual capital. Wealth
we can live by”. San Fransisco, CA : Berret-Koehler
Publisher.
Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to Business Performance
185