A causal theory of spiritual leadership taps into the fundamental needs of both leader (vision, hope/ faith, altruistic love) and follower for spiritual survival (calling/meaning, membership). The definition of spiritual leadership is to comprise the values, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary to intrinsically motivate one¡¦s self and others so that they have a sense of spiritual survival through calling and membership, and to improve employees¡¦ organization commitment and productivity. In addition, change commitment which is one of the positive attitudes toward organizational change, could promote the success of organizational change. The relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment will be discussed. Furthermore, employees¡¦ emotional experiences might influence the work attitudes and behaviors. Regulatory focus theory which includes promotion focus and prevention focus, will focus on the one¡¦ emotional content, magnitude and the further effect. It¡¦s helpful to describe the relationship between emotional experiences and work attitudes and behaviors. As a result, the mediating mechanism of regulatory focus between spiritual leadership and commitment will be discussed. Use LISREL to analyze the survey data from 369 employees. Following are the results: 1. There is a positive relationship among spiritual leadership, calling/ meaning and membership, and change commitment. And calling/ meaning and membership are the mediators in the relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment. 2. There is a positive relationship among spiritual leadership, promotion focus and change commitment. And promotion focus is the mediator in the relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment. Although spiritual leadership positively affects prevention focus, however, prevention focus will not influence change commitment. 3. The differences of respondents¡¦ profiles will make effects on spiritual leadership, calling/meaning, membership, regulatory focus and change commitment.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.118-122).