Daily work contexts and resistance to organisational change: The role of leader-member exchange, development climate, and change process characteristics

In the last decade, researchers have started to investigate the psychological processes that are involved in employees' experiences of organisational change. The present study examined how characteristics of the daily work context related to employees' resistance to change through aspects of the change process. The results supported the research model, showing that the relationships of leader-member exchange and perceived development climate with employees' resistance to a merger were fully mediated by three change process characteristics (i.e. information, participation, and trust in management). In addition, two individual-level characteristics (i.e. openness to job changes, and organisational tenure) showed significant relationships with resistance to change. Employees' role breadth self-efficacy was not related to resistance. Together, the results suggest a number of ways in which organisations can increase the effectiveness of their change efforts.