Employees’ Change Support in the Public Sector—A Multi‐Time Field Study Examining the Formation of Intentions and Behaviors

Abstract

AbstractRecent micro‐level research on public sector reform and change highlights the importance of employees’ reactions to change. Based on the assumption that intentions determine behaviors, scholars have focused on the importance of understanding how change‐supportive intentions are formed. However, how change‐supportive intentions translate to change‐supportive behaviors over time has received less attention. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and public administration literature, this study examines the formation of change‐supportive intentions and behaviors based on data from a two‐wave field study of 135 public school teachers undergoing a major top‐down reform in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The results highlight the explanatory value of the psychological perspective for change‐supportive intentions as well as for change‐supportive behaviors measured nine months later. The findings of the present study are theoretically and practically relevant as they offer new insights into the psychological mechanisms involved in the formation of change support in the context of public organizations.