Want to, need to, ought to: employee commitment to organizational change

Abstract

Purpose -This study aims to focus on the role of employee commitment in the success of organizational change initiatives. The authors seek to propose and test a model that delineates antecedents and consequences of affective, normative, and continuance commitment to organizational change. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected via online survey from employees working in a large not-for-profit organization. A total of 191 responses (32 per cent) were obtained. The hypothesized model relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings -The results demonstrate that the antecedents: fit with vision, employee-manager relationship quality, job motivation, and role autonomy all influence commitment to change (C2C). Notably, affective commitment, which in turn influences employee perceptions about improved performance, implementation success, and individual learning regarding the change, had the greatest impact.Research limitations/implications -Limitations that could lead to future research include three primary issues. First, the data were collected from one organization. Second, data were collected at one point in time. Third, the proposed model is far from exhaustive. Other antecedents to C2C could include risk acceptance, organizational culture, and/or leadership style. Practical implications -In addition, given affective commitment to change (AC2C) has the greatest influence on outcomes such as implementation success and improved performance, the antecedents of AC2C warrant management's attention. If managers can influence AC2C through such factors as those proposed here, outcomes such as individual learning, perceived implementation success, and perceived improved performance will be influenced. Originality/value -The paper integrates two models evaluating employee reactions to change, an under researched area, to help uncover ways to improve the success of change initiatives.

Herscovitch and Meyer’s Three-Component model of commitment to change: Meta-analytic findings

“…In response to this conceptual malaise, Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) developed a three-component model (affective, continuance and normative commitment to change (ACC, CCC and NCC)) by anchoring it in the theoretical foundations of the more general and universally acknowledged model of workplace commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991, 1997. This multidimensional perspective and its tool have been adopted increasingly in recent research that aims to understand what really matters in shaping change recipient's attitudes (e.g., Bouckenooghe, 2012;Chen & Wang, 2007;Parish, Cadwallader, & Busch, 2008). In this context, this paper takes stock of research using Herscovitch and Meyer's instrument. In organizational development and industrial & organizational psychology literature, it is well-established that organizational change can induce formidable stress that impacts both the organization and its members, such as increasing uncertainty and reducing well-being (Bordia, Hobman, Jones, Gallois, & Callan, 2004).…”

“…Notwithstanding its salience in change management literature, in this paper we are concerned about the increasing number of studies that habitually use Herscovitch and Meyer's instrument and adopt its components as given (e.g., Baraldi, Kalyal, Berntson, Näswall, & Sverke, 2010;Chen & Wang, 2007;Foster, 2010;Parish et al, 2008), yet do so without critically considering the variability in the correlational pattern between the three components. Apart from Meyer, Srinivas, Lal, and Topolnytsky's (2007) study, and despite the model being broadly adopted and accepted by commitment researchers, no inquiry has explicitly tested the discriminant validity of the model's three components as measured by the instrument.…”

Virtual organization: specifics of creation of personnel management system

“…Topics of increasing effectiveness of personnel management of traditional organizations were analysed by [33], [6], [27], [30], [7], [13], [26], [14], [21], and [2]. Biggs and Swailes [4] analysed personnel management issues in the perspective of organizational commitment.…”

Fatores chave para o alinhamento estratégico vertical: Survey com executivos brasileiros

“…Nos modelos empíricos propostos por Noble & Mokwa (1999) e Parish et al (2008), a estratégia é considerada um dos antecedentes do comprometimento estratégico e o sucesso na sua implementação, uma das suas consequências. O comprometimento dos gestores com a implementação é afetado pela importância atribuída à estratégia, que depende da percepção dos gestores quanto ao impacto da estratégia sobre os negócios (Noble & Mokwa, 1999).…”