Impact of employee emotions on merger outcomes: Mediating role of middle managers

Abstract

The present study aims to assess employee emotional responses of organizations undergoing Mergers and Acquisitions and middle‐level manager role in managing these emotional responses in the post‐acquisition phase. The study is empirical in which a total of 215 responses from middle managers, involved in six Mergers and Acquisitions, were considered. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of employee emotions during change, and middle manager role tested in other change contexts. The psychometric properties of the measures are established before testing the hypotheses. The results indicated that middle managers involvement in the strategy could enhance their commitment, which can reduce resistance to change and smoother integration. The results highlighted the importance of leveraging the middle manager role, given the post‐merger phase's criticality to achieve the desired synergies. One of the fundamental strengths of the paper is the rigors undertaken in selecting the companies representing an apt radical change context to test the theory of emotional balancing. The application of the concept of emotional balancing in the radical change context of Mergers and Acquisitions and its empirical validation is an original contribution to the field of knowledge in change management.