Breaking down walls, building bridges: the importance of transformational leadership considering contextual and individual factors in resistance to change

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the role of trust in the leader as a contextual factor and the personality of the employee as an individual factor in the relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and resistance to change (RC).Design/methodology/approachA total of 170 surveys were applied to employees in two organizations that had recently implemented a change. Using hierarchical regression and Hayes’ PROCESS macro, both direct and indirect relationships were analyzed.FindingsThe results show that TFL is negatively related to RC. Nevertheless, such a relationship is partially mediated by trust in the leader and moderated by two employee personality traits (openness and neuroticism), both of which strengthen the relationship. Similarly, employee’s openness to experience is negatively related to RC.Originality/valueThis research contributes to understand the relationship between leadership and RC, incorporating both contextual and individual factors, as literature has debated over whether resistant to change obeys to factors surrounding the employees, or within them. While this research contributes to this approach, its contributions extend beyond the leadership–resistance relationship to include indirect (mediation and moderation) relationships. Consideration of the moderating role of the employee’s personality in the effect of the leader’s behavior on the employee’s resistance, for instance, contributes to the development of a theoretical logic that helps to explain the leader–follower interaction and its effect on the follower’s attitudes and behaviors.