Understanding the individual's reactions to the organizational change: a multidimensional approach

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this research is to analyze in a multidimensional perspective the individual responses to organizational change, specifically about the implementation of a new performance evaluation system, investigating some antecedents of the individual reactions to change.

Design/methodology/approach

Companies from the education industry were surveyed, and standardized questionnaires were applied. We obtained a sample size of 386 valid responses. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the measurement model and test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicate positive reactions to the organizational change, without ambivalent responses. Employees' cognitive and behavioral reactions are influenced by the individuals' anticipation and past similar organizational change and do not depend on the perceived threat to social work life. The influence of group pressure and organizational readiness on cognitive and behavioral reactions differs in the direction that group pressure affects behaviors but not thoughts, and organizational readiness affects thoughts but not behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include the inadequate measures of individuals' emotional reaction, preventing this dimension from being tested.

Originality/value

This research provides theoretical contributions as the literature on organizational change lacks a multidimensional view on individuals' reactions to change. The main contribution of this study is to investigate how each of the individual and organizational antecedents of the employees' responses to the change influences the cognitive and behavioral reactions towards the change employing a multidimensional approach.

Citation

Borges, R. and Quintas, C.A. (2020), "Understanding the individual's reactions to the organizational change: a multidimensional approach", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 667-681. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-09-2019-0279