Workplace spirituality as a mediator between ethical climate and workplace deviant behavior

•OJ is positively related to WS and OCB and negatively related to WDB.•EC is positively related to OCB and WS and negatively related to WDB.•WS is positively related to OCB.•WS mediates the relationship between OJ and OCB.•WS mediates the relationship between EC and WDB. This study investigates workplace spirituality as a mediator between organizational justice/ethical climate and workplace deviant behavior/organizational citizenship behavior. Data was collected from 641 Indian employees employed at economy to luxury hotels. Workplace spirituality mediated organizational justice-organizational citizenship behavior link and ethical climate-workplace deviant behavior link. The implications can help hospitality professionals in creating an ethical work environment that embraces justice and spirituality for the well-being of employees, the organization, and the community at large. Hospitality managers can cultivate workplace spirituality by adopting a humanistic work environment. Hotel employers can give their employees the freedom to bring their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual attributes to the workplace so that employees can realize the meaning and purpose of their work and their full potential as a person. The results can also aid hospitality professionals in formulating new policies by embracing spiritually sensitive services. The limitations and directions for future research are outlined.