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Change agent's contribution to recipients' resistance to change: A two-sided story

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  • Vos, Janita F.J.
  • Rupert, Joyce

Abstract

In the change management literature, most studies on recipients' resistance to change include only the views of agents or of recipients, thereby ignoring that these parties may have different perceptions. In this quantitative study, we include the perceptions of both parties in studying the recipients' resistance and the impact of the agent's leadership behavior. In a sample of 117 agent-recipients groupings, covering 110 different change projects in 90 organizations, we found that agents perceive higher levels of recipients' resistance than do the recipients themselves. Additionally, we found that agents who create space to enable recipients to think and act differently (by employing creating behavior) report higher levels of recipients' resistance, whereas recipients perceive their resistance to be lowered when agents facilitate an emotional connection to the change (framing behavior). The depth of the change appeared to moderate the relationship between agent's leadership behavior and recipients' resistance, indicating that agents and recipients differ in which change leadership behaviors they perceive as increasing or decreasing resistance at different levels of change depth. These findings imply to reconsider the relationship between agent and recipients and we propose some promising avenues for future studies in resistance research.

Suggested Citation

  • Vos, Janita F.J. & Rupert, Joyce, 2018. "Change agent's contribution to recipients' resistance to change: A two-sided story," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 453-462.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:36:y:2018:i:4:p:453-462
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2017.11.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas, Robyn & Hardy, Cynthia, 2011. "Reframing resistance to organizational change," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 322-331, September.
    2. van der Voet, Joris, 2014. "The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 373-382.
    3. N. Sharon Hill & Myeong-Gu Seo & Jae Hyeung Kang & M. Susan Taylor, 2012. "Building Employee Commitment to Change Across Organizational Levels: The Influence of Hierarchical Distance and Direct Managers' Transformational Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 758-777, June.
    4. Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & David Obstfeld, 2005. "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 409-421, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Warrick, D.D., 2023. "Revisiting resistance to change and how to manage it: What has been learned and what organizations need to do," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 433-441.
    2. Endrejat, Paul C. & Klonek, Florian E. & Müller-Frommeyer, Lena C. & Kauffeld, Simone, 2021. "Turning change resistance into readiness: How change agents’ communication shapes recipient reactions," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 595-604.
    3. Weber, Ellen & Büttgen, Marion & Bartsch, Silke, 2022. "How to take employees on the digital transformation journey: An experimental study on complementary leadership behaviors in managing organizational change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 225-238.

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