Beyond the individual‐level conceptualization of dispositional resistance to change: Multilevel effects on the response to organizational change

Abstract

AbstractWe know much about the factors that determine employees' responses to organizational change. Among these, key factors are those that have to do with employees' personal dispositions and those that have to do with the organizational context. In the present study, we focus on dispositional resistance to change and demonstrate how it can be used at the collective level as a means of characterizing organizations rather than individuals. Specifically, we use it to capture organizations' collective orientation toward change and demonstrate its effects above and beyond the effects of individuals' dispositional resistance. Using data from 84 principals and 395 teachers, we demonstrate the complementary roles of employees', principals', and organizations' dispositional resistance to change in predicting employees' attitudes toward the introduction of changes in the organization. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding responses to organizational change and more broadly for the notion of translating dispositional variables to the organizational level.