The Roles of Organizational Justice and Cynicism in Employee Affective Commitment to Change
Advisor Information
Wayne Harrison
Location
UNO Criss Library, Room 112
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
6-3-2015 1:15 PM
End Date
6-3-2015 1:30 PM
Abstract
The turbulent business environment of the twenty-first century demands that organizations be able to successfully implement changes at a rapid pace in order to remain competitive (Bronson, 1991; Tetenbaum, 1998). Organizational research highlights the importance of employees seeing value in a change, termed affective commitment to change, due to its connection with employee behavioral support for the change (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002; Machin, Fogarty, & Bannon, 2009; Meyer, Srinivas, Lal, & Topolnytsky, 2007; Shin, Taylor, & Seo, 2012). The present survey study examined factors that may influence employee affective commitment to change, and subsequently, employee behavioral support for change. Five hundred full-time workers who had experienced an organizational change completed a survey on-line. Study hypotheses were then tested using structural equation modeling. As expected, affective commitment to change was positively associated with behavioral support for change. Also as expected, the results suggested that degree of employee participation and effective communication during a change may influence employee affective commitment to change by improving employee perceptions of procedural fairness. However, contrary to expectations, the results suggested that adequate change justification by the organization may directly influence employee affective commitment to change. Lastly, the results indicated that organizational cynicism may influence employee affective commitment to change by influencing employee perceptions of procedural fairness. The implications of these results for organizations will be discussed.
The Roles of Organizational Justice and Cynicism in Employee Affective Commitment to Change
UNO Criss Library, Room 112
The turbulent business environment of the twenty-first century demands that organizations be able to successfully implement changes at a rapid pace in order to remain competitive (Bronson, 1991; Tetenbaum, 1998). Organizational research highlights the importance of employees seeing value in a change, termed affective commitment to change, due to its connection with employee behavioral support for the change (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002; Machin, Fogarty, & Bannon, 2009; Meyer, Srinivas, Lal, & Topolnytsky, 2007; Shin, Taylor, & Seo, 2012). The present survey study examined factors that may influence employee affective commitment to change, and subsequently, employee behavioral support for change. Five hundred full-time workers who had experienced an organizational change completed a survey on-line. Study hypotheses were then tested using structural equation modeling. As expected, affective commitment to change was positively associated with behavioral support for change. Also as expected, the results suggested that degree of employee participation and effective communication during a change may influence employee affective commitment to change by improving employee perceptions of procedural fairness. However, contrary to expectations, the results suggested that adequate change justification by the organization may directly influence employee affective commitment to change. Lastly, the results indicated that organizational cynicism may influence employee affective commitment to change by influencing employee perceptions of procedural fairness. The implications of these results for organizations will be discussed.