H. Jack Walker

Factors influencing organizational change efforts: An integrative investigation of change content, context, process and individual differences

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integrative influence of content, context, process, and individual differences on organizational change efforts., – Data were collected from employees involved in a recent de‐merger. Using structural equation modeling, a hypothesized model that integrated individual differences with change content, context, and process factors was tested., – Results led to the acceptance of a model indicating that change context mediated the relationship between individual differences and change process and content. Similarly, change content and process mediated the relationship between change context and organizational change commitment., – Owing to the nature of the study, inferences of causality cannot be made. Additionally, common method bias may be a concern because criterion and response variables were collected at the same time., – An organizations prior change history (i.e. context) has the potential to negatively influence change success. In order to counteract these effects, change agents should concentrate on clearly communicating the change details (i.e. process) to employees., – This study is one of the first to integrate factors common to all change efforts, i.e. content, context, process and individual differences. Further, it elaborates on how these factors interact to influence change success.

Justice, Cynicism, and Commitment: A Study of Important Organizational Change Variables

Recent theoretical and empirical studies have begun to address the commonality between organizational justice and organizational change efforts. In the present study, the authors build on these efforts by investigating the interactive effects of three forms of organizational justice on affective change commitment following the spin-off of a durable goods manufacturer from its parent corporation. Results indicated interactional justice interacted with both procedural and distributive justice. The authors also found procedural and interactional justice predicted organizational cynicism, and each form of justice interacted with cynicism to predict change commitment. Implications for organizations going through a change are discussed.

Change fatigue: Development and initial validation of a new measure

Abstract Although organizational change often places strain on employees, few studies have explored the impact of multiple organizational changes on their well-being and withdrawal, including organizational commitment and turnover intentions. To provide a means of directly investigating such issues, we developed a measure of change fatigue, and then empirically examined its implications for employees. Using data from change consultants and a manufacturing organization in the United States that had undertaken a number of organizational changes over the last three years, the authors developed a six-item measurement scale, obtained initial evidence of construct validity, and then investigated the relationship between change fatigue and harmful outcomes, including exhaustion, organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Results indicated that change fatigue was positively associated with exhaustion, and exhaustion was in turn negatively related to organizational commitment and positively related to turnover intentions. Implications for organizations and employees facing multiple changes are discussed.

An empirical investigation of dispositional antecedents and performance-related outcomes of credit scores.

Many organizations use credit scores as an employment screening tool, but little is known about the legitimacy of such practices. To address this important gap, the reported research conceptualized credit scores as a biographical measure of financial responsibility and investigated dispositional antecedents and performance-related outcomes. Using personality data collected from employees, objective credit scores obtained from the Fair Isaac Corporation, and performance data provided by supervisors, we found conscientiousness to be positively related and agreeableness to be negatively related to credit scores. Results also indicate significant relationships between credit scores and task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Credit scores did not, however, predict workplace deviance. Implications for organizations currently using or planning to use credit scores as part of the screening process are discussed.

A Review of Cognitive Dissonance Theory in Management Research Opportunities for Further Development

Since its introduction to the social psychology literature 60 years ago, Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) has been frequently applied to the management literature to explain and predict the motivational nature of dissonance in producing attitude and behavior change in managerial decision making and the broader organizational context. Yet many of the popular constructs that stem from CDT have since lost touch with more recent developments in the field of origin. In this paper, we provide a review of the key constructs and predictions associated with CDT from Festinger’s early work to the latest developments. We then review key management research that has incorporated CDT. Drawing from the latest refinements to CDT, we describe how future management studies could benefit by integrating these refinements into their theoretical frameworks, rather than simply relying on Festinger’s seminal work on the 60th anniversary of its publication (1957).

Reexamining the Workplace Justice to Outcome Relationship: Does Frame of Reference Matter?

Using a combination of self‐interest and deontological theories as justification, we propose a demarcated view of workplace justice that separates justice for an individual (personal justice) and inferred assessments of justice for organizational members (third party justice). Results of two studies confirmed the appropriateness of separate justice measures and demonstrated differential effects on key criteria based on the relevancy (personal or joint) of the outcome in question. Specifically, Studies 1 and 2 found that personal justice was a better predictor of organizational commitment and turnover intentions while third party justice was more closely related to workplace cohesion (Study 1), citizenship behaviours (Study 2), and deviance behaviours (Study 2). Implications of these findings and future research needs are discussed.

A Study of Workplace Justice Differences During Times of Change : It's Not All About Me

The authors used social comparison theory in conjunction with fairness theory to investigate the impact of differences between personal and third-party perceptions of change justice on commitment to the change and turnover intentions. Results involving data from manufacturing employees, who had recently undergone a sweeping organizational change, indicated that differences in perceived fairness for oneself versus others were negatively related to change commitment but positively related to emotional exhaustion. In addition, results indicated that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between justice differences and the important outcomes of change commitment and turnover intentions. Implications for organizations and future research are discussed.

Rethinking the benefits and pitfalls of leader–member exchange: A reciprocity versus self-protection perspective

Existing literature assumes employees sharing high-quality relationships with supervisors hold advantageous positions over their peers under the leader–member exchange model. We propose environmental conditions limit the generalizability of this logic. Our framework is based on the idea that certain environments threaten the cycle of resource exchange and reciprocity, a foundational assumption in existing leader–member exchange models. To demonstrate this effect, we integrate social exchange and self-regulation theories to define four generalized environmental conditions we label appetitive alignment, appetitive misalignment, aversive misalignment and aversive alignment. We discuss accompanying propositions including both theoretical and practical implications of a contextualized leader-member exchange model to help future researchers anticipate when the benefits associated with high-quality leader–member relations and the pitfalls of low-quality relationships are attenuated by the environment.

Control Variables in Leadership Research: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review:

Statistical control of extraneous (i.e., third) variables is a common analytic tool among leadership researchers. While such a strategy is typically assumed to prove beneficial, it can actually introduce various complications that are underestimated or even ignored. This study investigates and summarizes the current state of control variable usage in leadership research by qualitatively and quantitatively examining the use of statistical control variables in 10 highly regarded management and applied psychology journals. Despite available “best practices,” our results indicate that control variable usage in existing leadership studies is rarely grounded in theory but instead frequently relies on outdated misconceptions. Moreover, a meta-analysis of the relationships between popular control variables and leadership constructs finds nearly universal weak effect sizes, suggesting that many studies may not only be losing valuable degrees of freedom but also making inferences based on biased parameter estimates. To address these issues, we put forth a number of recommendations to assist leadership scholars with determining whether potential third variables should be controlled for in their leadership research.

Prerecruitment organizational perceptions and recruitment website information processing

Despite the prevalent use of the Internet for recruitment purposes, little is known about how job seekers process presented information, particularly before organizations have actively recruited these job seekers. In this study, we examine the effects of prerecruitment perceptions of familiar organizations before exposure to information on organizational recruitment websites using a combination of undergraduate students and employees of a large university located in the southwestern USA (N = 75). Participants completed a three-part study that allowed us to investigate how these prerecruitment perceptions impact the reported time spent viewing recruitment websites and the ability to recall website information. We used two hierarchical moderated multiple regression models to test study hypotheses. Our results suggest that job pursuit intentions may influence processing of job and organizational information presented on recruitment websites, and this influence is moderated by subjective fit perceptions. Specifically, we find that participants who indicated high job pursuit intentions and low perceptions of subjective fit were more likely to spend time on a recruitment website and recall presented information one week after viewing it. We discuss the implications of these findings for organizations as they design and implement early recruitment activities.