Testing Interactive Effects of Commitment and Perceived Change Advocacy on Change Readiness: Investigating the Social Dynamics of Organizational Change

ABSTRACT

In a study of the social dynamics in organizational change, the present research examined whether employees who are more committed to their top managers, supervisors, and workgroups have greater change readiness than those with lower commitment. Moreover, the study investigated whether the associations between commitment and change readiness depend on the perceived advocacy of change by commitment targets. Using data from 220 blue-collar workers, results showed higher change readiness among employees with greater commitment, and, as predicted, the commitment was more strongly related to change readiness when the target of one’s commitment had greater change advocacy. Conversely, the positive effects of commitment on change readiness disappeared or even turned negative if the target’s change advocacy was low. Therefore, change managers should try to enhance change support among relevant commitment targets, or foster commitment to groups that advocate for change. Overall, the study contributes to our understanding of the role of commitment in the context of organizational change, by identifying specific conditions under which commitment is linked to change readiness.

KEYWORDS:

• Change readiness
• commitment
• change attitudes
• affective commitment
• supervisor commitment
• workgroup commitment

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Britta J. Seggewiss is a strategy consultant specializing in organizational change. She received her PhD from the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. Her research interests include employee commitment, change readiness, organizational culture, and work values. [Email: [email protected]].

Tammo Straatmann is a PhD candidate in the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. His research interests include survey feedback, change readiness, organizational commitment, retention management, organizational culture, and prototyping in organizational development settings. [Email: [email protected]].

Kate Hattrup is a Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Performance, and Applied HRM Research. Her research interests include cross-cultural psychology and organizational behaviour, job attitudes, psychological measurement, diversity in organizations, and personnel selection. [Email: [email protected]].

Karsten Mueller is a Professor of I/O Psychology and Intercultural Business Psychology at the University of Osnabrueck, Germany. He received his PhD from Mannheim University, Germany. His research interests include cross-cultural business and organizational psychology, job satisfaction and commitment, survey feedback, work attitudes, and organizational psychology research methods. [Email: [email protected]].