How Does Authentic Leadership Influence Planned Organizational Change? The Role of Employees’ Perceptions: Integration of Theory of Planned Behavior and Lewin's Three Step Model

TLDR

Kurt Lewin’s three‑step model underpins planned change theory but has been criticized for linearity, limited applicability to continuous change, and lack of leader–follower dynamics. The study aims to integrate Lewin’s model with the theory of planned behavior and test how authentic leadership influences employee perceptions during organizational change. Using a causal design, the authors surveyed 258 employees from three Pakistani public hospitals undergoing restructuring and analyzed the data with structural equation modeling in AMOS. Authentic leaders foster employee readiness, commitment, and support for change, demonstrating that authentic leadership is crucial for successful implementation of Lewin‑based change initiatives, a novel finding in the context of organizational change.

Abstract

Kurt Lewin has been regarded as the father of planned change. His classical three-step model though has provided the basis for different models of change, yet has been criticized for its linearity, unsuitability for continuous change and inability to incorporate leader–follower relationship dynamics. This study has responded to various criticisms by introducing new three-step model as a replica of the three-step model while integrating it with the theory of planned behaviour. For leader–follower relationship dynamics, this study tested the impact of well-needed authentic leadership on employee perceptions during change. Following positivistic approach and deductive reasoning, this study used causal design to collect primary data through Questionnaire survey based on simple random sampling technique. The data were collected from 258 employees of three public sector hospitals of Pakistan undergoing restructuring and analysed through structural equation modelling using AMOS. The results suggest that for successful implementation of planned change, authentic leaders need to create employees' readiness for change (unfreezing) that will in turn develop their commitment to change (moving) and behavioural support for change (refreezing). This is the first study regarding the role of authentic leadership in the context of change. The findings will help change leaders to undertake better employee-accepted change initiatives by following Lewin's model as a tool that is still relevant to the organizational change.