Adaptation to organizational change: The role of personality and emotion regulation

Purpose: Why do employees differ in their responses to organizational change? Whereas many publications on organizational change emphasize employees resistance to change, a general observation in change research is that employees differ in their change responses. How can we explain these differences? Conceiving organizational changes as affective events, this study investigated the role of personality (i.e. emotional stability, self-efficacy) and emotion regulation (i.e. positive re-appraisal, rumination) for employees’ attitudes towards a radical change and their subsequent well-being. Design/Methodology: A two-wave design was used. Preliminary data will be presented with 263 employees in the first wave and 114 employees in the second wave. Data were analyzed with structural equation modelling. Results: Employees with high self-efficacy were able to positively reappraise the change and were more open to the change. Employees with low emotional stability were inclined to ruminate and resist the change. Moreover, employees’ well-being was at stake; employees who resisted the change and who ruminated reported a higher level of emotional exhaustion. Limitations: Self-reports; choice of time lags. Implications: Organizations can affect employees’ change attitudes and well-being by boosting employees’ self-efficacy and enhancing positive re-appraisal, while supporting employees who tend to ruminate.Originality/Value: Much previous research has focused on general predictors of change attitudes such as change communication and participation; the present study contributes to the field by focusing on the role of intra-individual processes using affective events theory as a theoretical framework.