Psychological processes linking organizational commitment and change-supportive intentions
| Published date | 05 March 2018 |
| Pages | 403-424 |
| Date | 05 March 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2016-0230 |
| Author | Tammo Straatmann,Janna K. Nolte,Britta J. Seggewiss |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Psychological processes linking
organizational commitment and
change-supportive intentions
Tammo Straatmann
Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, and
Cross-Cultural Business Psychology, University of Osnabrueck,
Osnabrueck, Germany
Janna K. Nolte
Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, Germany, and
Britta J. Seggewiss
Department of Work and Organizational Psychology,
and Cross-Cultural Business Psychology, University of Osnabrueck,
Osnabrueck, Germany
Abstract
Purpose –With employees’support of organizational changes being vital for today’s organizations, the purpose
of this paper is to enhance the understanding of how organizational commitment is linked to change-supportive
intentions. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), mediated effects of affective organizational
commitment were empirically tested to explore the underlying psychological processes.
Design/methodology/approach –The study was conducted in the context of a complex change process at
a production facility of a large international manufacturing company (n¼667). Data from the change survey
were analyzed employing Hayes’(2012) PROCESS macro.
Findings –The results showed that organizational commitment relates to change-supportive intentions
directly and, as suggested by the TPB, its effects are mediated via change-related attitudes, subjective norms,
and perceived behavioral control. Furthermore, results suggest additional effects of change recipients’age
and occupational status.
Practical implications –Employing the TPB offers specific insights for tailored interventions to create
conditions facilitating organizational changes. The results indicate that commitment lays the ground for
employees’change reactions. Moreover, the psychological processes suggested by the TPB serve as
additional levers for explaining change-supportive intentions.
Originality/value –The study provides valuable information on the relationship between commitment and
change-supportive intentions. Specifically, affective organizational commitment is shown to be an important
resource in times of change, as it relates to more positive psychological reactions to change.
Keywords Quantitative, Change readiness, Organizational change, Commitment,
Theory of planned behaviour, Change-supportive intentions
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In times of globalization, challenging market environments, and rapid technological innovations,
an organization’s competitiveness is largely based on its ability to constantly adapt and change
(e.g. Drzensky et al., 2012). The success of organizational changes, in turn, is largely determined
by the reactions and supportive behaviors of the employees, as “organizations only change and
act through their members (George and Jones, 2001, p. 420). Indeed, change management
research identified employees’change-supportive behaviors as a critical factor for the success of
organizational changes ( Jimmieson et al., 2008; Rafferty et al., 2013).
By initiating and managing multiple change projects at the same time, organizations
are challenged with higher degrees of uncertainty and a lower ability to foresee all
consequences and challenges of the changes. To compensate for the increased complexity,
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 2, 2018
pp. 403-424
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-09-2016-0230
Received 6 September 2016
Revised 20 April 2017
Accepted 4 June 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
403
Organizational
commitment
even more change support and active contributions of the employees are required in the
context of multiple, simultaneous changes (Morin et al., 2016).
Recent research clearly identified behavioral intentions as important and most proximal
antecedents of employees’change-supportive behaviors (e.g. Ajzen, 1991; Jimmieson et al.,
2008; Kim et al., 2011). Accordingly, it is of high relevance for researchers and practitioners
to understand the psychological mechanisms that lead to change-supportive intentions of
employees (e.g. Jimmieson et al., 2008). Such knowledge can help to identify potential levers
of change support and to proactively manage organizational changes, instead of reactively
overcoming change resistance (Armenakis et al., 1993).
Many factors relating to the content, process, and context of changes have been studied
as antecedents of employees’support of or resistance to change (Armenakis et al., 1993).
Yet, one factor that has been repeatedly suggested as a general individual attribute that
allegedly predisposes positive employee reactions to organizational changes is employees’
commitment to their organization (Oreg et al., 2011). Irrespective of the complexity of
organizational changes, committed employees should be more willing to engage in the extra
efforts required by organizational changes, and they should show higher acceptance of
changes as they identify strongly with the organization and its values (Mowday et al., 1979;
Oreg et al., 2011). Especially employees’affective commitment has been suggested as an
important antecedent for employees’reactions to organizational changes (Peccei et al., 2011).
Affective commitment represents an“emotional attachment to the organizationsuch that the
strongly committed individual identifies with, is involved in, and enjoys membership in,
the organization”(Allen and Meyer, 1990, p. 2).
While previous research offers empirical insights into the influence of organizational
commitment on reactions of employees to organizational changes (e.g. Kwahk and Kim,
2008; Madsen et al., 2005), the psychological processes underlying this association still
remain underspecified. Hence, it is unclear how and to what extent organizational
commitment predisposes employees’psychological reactions to specific organizational
changes. One exception is a study by Peccei et al. (2011). They showed that attitudes toward
change serve as a mediator, partially explaining the relationship between affective
organizational commitment and change resistance (Peccei et al., 2011). As such, their study
sheds some first light on the underlying psychological processes linking affective
organizational commitment and employees’change reactions. However, the partial
mediation found in their study also demonstrates the need for further research to more fully
understand how employees’commitment influences the formation of change-supportive
intentions and hence, into how commitment can assist in fostering change support.
Previous research on how people generally form behavioral intentions offers a
compelling theoretical framework for explaining the link between commitment and change-
supportive intentions. The theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) is a
comprehensive and well-established framework, which has already been successfully
applied to explain behavioral intentions and behaviors in a wide range of fields
(e.g. Armitage and Conner, 2001). Recently, the TPB has shown its potential for research on
employees’change-supportive intentions in the organizational context (e.g. Jimmieson et al.,
2008, 2009; Straatmann et al., 2016).
The theoretical framework of the TPB helps to systematically differentiate psychological
constructs involved in employees’reactions to organizational change. Specifically, the TPB
clearly distinguishes employees’behavioral intentions from their attitude toward the
behavior. According to the TPB, attitude is an overall evaluative judgment regarding the
behavior of interest (Ajzen, 1991). Besides attitude, the perceived social pressure to carry out
a behavior of interest (subjective norm), and the perceived behavioral control (PBC) over
performing a behavior of interest represent key determinants in the formation of behavioral
intentions (Ajzen, 1991).
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