How change information influences attitudes toward change and turnover intention

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the quality of change information influences employees’ attitude toward organizational change and turnover intention. Additionally, the role of engagement, psychological contract fulfillment and trust in the relationship between change information and attitude toward change is assessed. Design/methodology/approach In a technology services organization that was implementing a “new way of working,” questionnaire data of 669 employees were gathered. The organizational change in question sought to increase employees’ autonomy by increasing management support and improving IT support to facilitate working at other locations (e.g. at home) or at hours outside of regular working hours (e.g. in evening). Findings The results showed that change information was positively related to psychological contract fulfillment and attitude toward change. Engagement and psychological contract fulfillment were positively related to attitude toward change and negatively related to turnover intention. Contrary to what was expected, trust did not influence attitude toward change but was negatively related to turnover intention. Practical implications The study presents a model that can help management to foster positive affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses to change, as well as to reduce employee turnover. Fulfilling employees’ psychological contracts and cultivating engagement is important in this respect, as well as continuously considering whether information about the organizational change is received in good time, is useful, is adequate and satisfies employees’ questions about the change. Originality/value As one of the first studies in its field, attitude toward change was conceptualized and operationalized as a multidimensional construct, comprising an affective, a behavioral and a cognitive dimension.

When and How Does Psychological Voice Climate Influence Individual Change Readiness? The Mediating Role of Normative Commitment and the Moderating Role of Work Engagement

“…Several studies have also put emphasis on the role of the motivational base of public sector employees prior to organizational change (Farndale et al, 2011; van den Heuvel et al, 2017). These studies assume that, if employees have positive attitudes toward their organization, they will hold positive views toward organizational change.…”

“…Devos et al (2007) found that, when employment relationships are characterized by high levels of mutual trust, employees are more open to organizational change. In line with van den Heuvel et al’s (2017) argument on the internal context, we focus on the concept of voice climate to describe the internal context in which an organizational change takes place.…”

The Reactions of Post-Soviet Countries Employees to Changes Carried Out by Organizations in Higher Education: Cases of Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Belarusian State Colleges

“…Another study confirmed that lack of communication and participants' low involvement during changes were emphasized as important factors, contributing to resistance and that they were related to organizational culture (Canning and Found, 2015). In addition, information about changes was positively related to the psychological implementation of agreements and the attitude to changes (van den Heuvel et al, 2017), as well as to greater confidence, enabling to achieve the set results (Vosse and Aliyu, 2018).…”

“…The instrument used for the research was created based on the analysis of scientific literature and by selecting publications using keywords "higher education", "changes", "attitudes of employees" and by focusing on magazines indexed in SCOPUS and WOS databases, which quartile is not lower than Q3. In this way, 15 publications that were published between 2004 and 2018 were selected (Eriksson, 2004;Vakola and Nikolaou, 2005;Alas and Vadi, 2006;Armenakis et al, 2007;Walker et al, 2007;van Emmerik et al, 2009;Stensaker and Meyer, 2011;Hyde, 2012;Carter et al, 2013;Stensaker et al, 2014;Dasborough et al, 2015;Canning and Found, 2015;Fu et al, 2016;van den Heuvel et al, 2017;Vosse and Aliyu, 2018).…”

An Investigation of Dispositional Resistance, Change-specific Resistance and Change-Related Information: The Case of the “4+4+4” Educational Reform in Turkey

“…This variable was chosen to be used in this research so as to unearth whether change leaders' approach to providing information in the change process affected teachers' attitudes towards change either in a positive or negative way. Research has shown that change-related information is positively associated with attitudes towards change ( Van den Heuvel, Freese, Schalk, & Van Assen, 2017).…”