Attitudes towards organizational change. What is the role of employees’ stress and commitment?
| Published date | 01 April 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450510572685 |
| Date | 01 April 2005 |
| Pages | 160-174 |
| Author | Maria Vakola,Ioannis Nikolaou |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Attitudes towards organizational
change
What is the role of employees’ stress and
commitment?
Maria Vakola and Ioannis Nikolaou
Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece
Abstract
Purpose – Occupational stress and organizational change are now widely accepted as two major
issues in organizational life. The current study explores the linkage between employees’ attitudes
towards organizational change and two of the most significant constructs in organizational behaviour;
occupational stress and organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 292 participants completed ASSET, a new
“Organizational Screening Tool”, which, among other things, measures workplace stress and
organizational commitment and a measure assessing attitudes towards organizational change.
Findings – The results were in the expected direction showing negative correlations between
occupational stressors and attitudes to change, indicating that highly stres sed individuals
demonstrate decreased commitment and increased reluctance to accept organizational change
interventions. The most significant impact on attitudes to change was coming from bad work
relationships emphasizing the importance of that occupational stressor on employees’ attitudes
towards change. The results did not support the role of organizational commitment as a moderator in
the relationship between occupational stress and attitudes to change.
Research limitations/implications – A limitation of the research design could be that all
measures originated from the same source resulting in possible contamination from common method
variance. Further, the cross-sectional research design adopted in the present study, as opposed to a
longitudinal or experimental methodology, does not allow affirmative causal explanations.
Originality/value – The present study showed that good and effective work relationships are very
important in organizational change. Handling conflicts, building supportive work relationships and
communicating effectively all contribute to the formulation of positive attitudes to change and,
therefore, to the success of a change programme. In addition, organizations need to examine the extra
workload which organizational change may create. Increase in workload is not only easily attributable
to the change but it also makes change unattractive and problematic leading to non-supportive
attitudes.
Keywords Organizational chan ge, Management of change, Stress, B usiness policy, Greece
Paper type Research paper
Organizations continually embark on programmes of organizational change. The
American Management Association reported that 84 percent of US companies were in
the process of at least one major change initiative and 46 percent said that they had
three or more change initiatives/programmes in progress (Peak, 1996). Also, a study
conducted by the US Bureau of National Affairs (1996) reported that organizational
change was a major concern for more than a third of the 396 participating
organizations. These ongoing and seemingly endless efforts put a lot of strain not only
on organizations but also on individuals. Organizational change challenges the “way
things are done in here’ and, as a result, individuals experience uncertainty and starts
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
ER
27,2
160
Employee Relations
Vol. 27 No. 2, 2005
pp. 160-174
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450510572685
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