When change leadership impacts commitment to change and when it doesn't: a multi-level multi-dimensional investigation

Recent research has urged more comprehensive theoretical development and empirical validation in the field of organizational change. This study is aimed at further developing the change leadership construct and investigating its effect on employees¡¯ commitment to a particular change, along with investigating the moderating roles of leaders¡¯ general transformational leadership styles and subordinates¡¯ affective commitment to the larger organization. The results for the change leadership measure suggest that change leadership behaviors encompass two factors¡ªleaders¡¯ change-selling behavior and change- implementing behavior. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicate that the two aspects of change leadership have different effects on employees¡¯ affective commitment to change. Results on the three-way interaction also provided a more comprehensive view of organizational change situations. Additional theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Fedor, Donald; Committee Member: Caldwell, Steve; Committee Member: Herold, David; Committee Member: James, Lawrence; Committee Member: Kuang, X