Commitment to Change: Its Role in the Relationship Between Expectation of Change Outcome and Emotional Exhaustion

Abstract

AbstractSuccessful implementation of organizational changes greatly depends on committed employees. It is crucial for managers, leaders, and HRD professionals to understand the antecedents and outcomes of commitment to change. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among expectation of change outcome at the individual level, commitment to change, and emotional exhaustion. Four hundred and sixty‐three usable surveys were returned from managers and employees from three companies in the Chinese telecom industry that were undergoing large‐scale organizational changes. Results of correlation analysis demonstrated that expectation of change outcome was positively correlated with affective and normative commitments to change and negatively correlated with continuance commitment to change. Affective and normative commitments to change were both negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion, while continuance commitment to change was positively correlated with emotional exhaustion. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that a full mediation model fitted best to the data. The relationships between the two dimensions of expectation of change outcome and emotional exhaustion were fully mediated by affective and normative commitments to change. This study offers insights into understanding the complex nature of commitment to change, how to cultivate commitment to change, and how to use commitment to change as an intervention solution to reduce stress.