The Structure and Function of Attitudes Toward Organizational Change

TLDR

The article proposes an attitudinal perspective on organizational members’ reactions to change. The authors identify belief classes underlying attitude formation by integrating constructs from job characteristics and organizational justice theories. Viewing change as an attitude object yields a richer conceptualization of perceptions and reactions in terms of emotions, cognitions, and behaviors, frames changes relative to values important to members, and offers research and managerial implications.

Abstract

In this article, an attitudinal perspective on organizational members’ reactions to change is proposed and developed. By viewing change as an attitude object in this sense, a richer conceptualization of perceptions of change and reactions to change in terms of emotions, cognitions, and behaviors is achieved. The perspective also frames organizational changes in terms of aspects that are relevant for change recipients because of their relationships with important values that are held by organizational members. To identify classes of beliefs underlying the formation of attitudes toward change, constructs are integrated from theories of job characteristics and organizational justice with the overarching attitude perspective. Research implications of the framework as well as implications for managing change are discussed.