The topic of spirituality and job satisfaction is of growing interest in management literature. Researchers have examined whether spirituality improves or enhance job satisfaction, productivity, retention, and reduces burnout. The findings in various studies have supported the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction.

This dissertation investigated the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction of African American, Anglo, and Hispanic Protestant clergy. The preliminary research questions for this study are: What degree do the determinants of spirituality correlate with the determinants of job satisfaction for African American, Anglo, and Hispanic protestant clergy? Is there a significant difference between the degree of spirituality and job satisfaction among protestant clergy ethnic groups (African American, Anglo, and Hispanic)? Do female clergy experience a higher level of spirituality and job satisfaction than their male counterparts?

The study used a sample group of 475 participants who were full-time pastors from a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. The research tools used to examine the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction were the Spirituality Assessment Scale™, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. The survey data was analyzed and hypotheses testing performed by using SPSS' (2009) PASW® Statistics GradPack 17.0 For Windows. The Spearman's Rho Correlation Analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis One-way Analysis of Variance were the utilized in order to perform hypotheses testing.

A review of the findings indicated a support for the hypothesis that there is a relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction. The findings also support the hypothesis that there is a difference (p = 0.009) in definitive spirituality when comes to ministerial standing within the organization. Finally, the findings in this study support the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in definitive spirituality between African-American, Anglo, and Hispanic Protestant clergy (p = .000).

This research contributes to the body of literature on spirituality and job satisfaction by examining a void in prior research which is the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction of African American, Anglo, and Hispanic Protestant clergy. The study also makes recommendations for future research.