The Role of Affect and Leadership During Organizational Change

Abstract

Based on multilevel data collected at 2 points in time, we examine the role of employees’ affective experiences in shaping their commitment and behavioral responses to both the initial (Time 1) and later (Time 2) phases of organizational change (12 months later). We also test the cross‐level effect of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership on their employees’ responses to change. We find strong support for predicted longitudinal relationships between employees’ affective experiences and their commitment and behavioral responses to change. In particular, employees’ positive and negative affect (NA) at Time 1 significantly predict both their commitment to change and the 3 dimensions (supportive, resistant, and creative) of behavioral responses at Time 2. Further, the effects of NA directly influence employee change commitment and behaviors at Time 2, whereas the long‐term effects of positive affect occur both directly and indirectly through commitment to change at Time 1. Finally, our results support the hypothesized role of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership in shaping employees’ affective reactions and commitment to change at the initial phase of change and thereby, their subsequent behavioral responses in the later phase. We discuss the implications for theory and practice in organizational change.

Do happy leaders lead better? Affective and attitudinal antecedents of transformational leadership

“…Measures assessing employees' level of affective organizational commitment, for example, include items with affective content such as: "I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization" (emphasis ours, Allen & Meyer, 1990). Consistent with this, higher levels of affective commitment to organizational change have been reported by employees who feel more positive affect during organizational change (Seo et al, 2012); while this finding is with regard to changespecific affective commitment, we posit that this is likely to occur more broadly to one's organization.…”

“…This theoretical perspective has been supported by many empirical studies (e.g. Fisher, 2000, Heller & Watson, 2005, Ilies & Judge, 2002, Judge & Ilies, 2004, Seo et al, 2012, Weiss et al, 1999. For example, Weiss et al (1999) showed that employees' pleasant and unpleasant feelings experienced across 16 working days significantly influenced their job satisfaction, independent of their beliefs about their jobs.…”

The impact of leadership on organizational ambidexterity and employee psychological safety in the global acquisitions of emerging market multinationals

“…These studies have examined the effect of human factors on deal performance from the perspective of company cultures, parallels between company management styles, organizational cultures of tolerance, and other such individual, group, and organizational elements (Seo et al, 2012). We contribute to the existing research in three important ways:…”

Transformational leadership and post-acquisition performance in transitional economies

“…Research related to transitional economies is still very limited, although the challenges of managing post-acquisition integration are more serious than those in developed economies, taking into account the unstable institutional context (Meyer, 2002). Further, only few studies researched the importance of transformational leadership on lower hierarchical levels (Seo et al, 2012;Carter et al, 2012). The present study strives to address this research gap by elaborating on the links between transformational leadership (especially at lower hierarchical levels) and post-acquisition performance while introducing the mediating effect of employee attitudes toward changes, in the specific context of a transitional economy.…”