The role of psychological climate in facilitating employee adjustment during organizational change

TLDR

The study tested a theoretical model of employee adjustment during organizational change, hypothesizing that psychological climate variables would serve as coping resources and predict improved adjustment. Two variations of the model were evaluated with survey data from 779 public hospital employees and 877 public sector employees using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Employees who perceived a more positive psychological climate were more likely to appraise change favorably and reported higher job satisfaction, psychological well‑being, organizational commitment, and lower absenteeism and turnover intentions.

Abstract

The current research tested a theoretical model of employee adjustment during organizational change based on Lazarus and Folkman's () cognitive-phenomenological framework. The model hypothesized that psychological climate variables would act as coping resources and predict improved adjustment during change. Two variations of this model were tested using survey data from two different organizational samples: 779 public hospital employees and 877 public sector employees. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the models. Results showed that employees whose perceptions of the organization and environment in which they were working (that is, psychological climate) were more positive, were more likely to appraise change favourably and report better adjustment in terms of higher job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment, and lower absenteeism and turnover intentions.