Determinants of adaptability and its impact on the change readiness of civil servants

Abstract

PurposeUnderpinned by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this study aimed to examine the mediating role of employees' adaptability in the relationship between the five managerial climate factors (i.e., trust, supportiveness, openness, clarity of goals and participative) and change readiness in public sector organisations.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the quantitative approach, data were collected from 379 administrative and diplomatic officers. Analysis was done using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results showed that trust and clarity of goals are significant motivational factors that accelerate employees' adaptability. Adaptability, in turn, was found to mediate the effect of trust and clarity of goals on employees' change readiness.Originality/valueThis study contributes to theory and practice by examining employees' adaptability as an intervening variable in the relationship between managerial climate factors and change readiness with specific reference to the public administration context.

Fostering innovative behaviours of public sector employees: the potency of innovation-based HR practices, risk propensity and error tolerance

“…In doing so, they attempt to meet the expectations of collective citizens for public value (Almazrouei et al, 2023). Indeed, the concern for creating public value by public sector organisations is increasingly gaining attention in the public sector literature as it is argued to be the goal of public sector organisations (Twizeyimana and Andersson, 2019;Yean et al, 2022). The need to create public value necessitates innovation because it improves public service quality, citizen satisfaction and the performance and efficiency of public organisations (Bryson et al, 2014;De Vries et al, 2016;Crosby et al, 2017;Panagiotopoulos et al, 2019).…”

Unveiling Organizational Impact on Civil Servant’s Change Readiness: Investigating the Mediating Influence of Adaptability

“…There is a considerable amount of literature and research that identifies various factors that can influence employee change readiness, including [1] communication (Endrejat et al, 2021;Neill, Men, & Yue, 2019;Schulz-Knappe, Koch, & Beckert, 2019), [2] leadership (Gelaidan et al, 2018;Indriastuti & Fachrunnisa, 2021;Islam, Furuoka, & Idris, 2021b, 2021a organizational culture (Olafsen, Nilsen, Smedsrud, & Kamaric, 2021;Samal, Patra, & Chatterjee, 2021;Trisnanto & Soetjipto, 2022;Wong, 2021), [4] organizational identification (Aitken & von Treuer, 2021;Hameed et al, 2019;Neill et al, 2019), and [5] change beliefs (Commer, Sci, Kashif Imran, Muhammad, & Iqbal, 2021;Hameed et al, 2019;Islam et al, 2021a;Mei Kin, Abdul Kareem, Nordin, & Wai Bing, 2018;Rafferty & Minbashian, 2019). Recently, Yean, et al (2022) attempted to identify other factors that may affect change readiness by conducting a study to examine the impact of several factors that are summarized as managerial climate, and adaptability on change readiness.…”

“…Thus, the main objective of this study is to explore factors that drive change readiness in public sector organizations. To do this, we modify previous studies and build upon the factors identified by Hameed et al (2019) and Yean et al (2022), which will be explained below. Therefore, the research question of this study is "How do organizational identification and managerial climate affect employee change readiness, while taking into account adaptability as a mediator?…”

“…Change is the only constant in life, whether for individuals, communities, or organizations (Yean, Tan, & Nadarajah, 2022). Organizational change has become an inseparable part of an organization's life cycle to keep up with the ongoing changes in the organizational environment (Gelaidan, Al-Swidi, & Mabkhot, 2018).…”

“…Therefore, the ability to respond to change is also considered a valuable skill at the individual, group, and organizational levels (Beasley, Grace, & Horstmanshof, 2021). Responses to change may differ among individuals: some may be very open to welcoming change and view it as an opportunity for development, while others may perceive change as a threat and a challenge to the current status quo (Yean et al, 2022).…”