Investigating the factors behind positive reactions to change: the role of affect and cognition

Abstract

The concept of organizational change has never been more significant, given the business context of fierce competition, ever-changing requirements of globalization, and the pace of technological innovations. Although organizational change efforts are intended to create positive outcomes such as increased performance and productivity, most of the change initiatives fail, essentially due to neglecting the crucial human aspect of change. Yet, considering that change is carried out by individuals, how to obtain their support for change is an essential question that must be answered for success of the change. Individuals’ commitment to and behavioral support for an organizational change depends on how they perceive and interpret it based on their affective and cognitive evaluations. At this point, a controversial issue emerges regarding the factors that influence affective and cognitive evaluations and to what extent these responses predict commitment to and behavioral support for change. This research investigates whether contextual and process related factors such as change implementation processes, perceptions of justice, leader-member exchange and leadership style during an organizational change appeal to employees’ minds or hearts and the differential impact of these factors on employees’ commitment to and support for change via emotions and rationality.