Employees' emotions in change: advancing the sensemaking approach

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Purpose - Organizational changes are emotionally charged processes, and scholarly research has increasingly emphasized the impact of employee emotions on successful change management. This impact has rarely been considered in light of approaches focussing on employee sensemaking. To address this critical gap, the purpose of this paper is to combine the model of enacted sensemaking with insights from the Affect Infusion Model.

Design/methodology/approach - To test the model, the authors surveyed 261 employees with a vignette study and performed structural equation modeling on the results.

Findings - The findings reveal that emotions significantly affect employees' level of psychological resources, particularly change commitment, efficacy, and expectations. Furthermore, change commitment and efficacy are significant predictors of resistance intention, which confirms (to an extent) the validity of enacted sensemaking, and these factors mediate the relationship between employees' emotions and their resistance intentions.

Research limitations/implications - This study focussed on the early stages of a change initiative. Therefore, the authors only considered employee assessment at one point in time.

Practical implications - This model has managerial utility for explaining how employees' resistance intention regarding change is influenced by employees' emotions and their psychological resources.

Originality/value - The results broaden the horizons because they suggest a model of "emotionally primed" enacted sensemaking for employees during organizational change by offering a new theoretical framework (enacted sensemaking and substantive processing) and a new methodological approach (quantitative vignette study).
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of Organizational Change Management
Jahrgang29
Ausgabenummer6
Seiten (von - bis)903 - 916
Anzahl der Seiten14
ISSN0953-4814
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 2016

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Mindfulness training at school
  2. HEPS Tool for Schools
  3. Die Medien und das Neue
  4. Biokraftstoffe und Biokraftstoffprojekte
  5. Erfolgsfaktor Zuverlässigkeit
  6. Wild Seeds
  7. Parlamentarismus in Niedersachsen
  8. Aesthetics of Sustainability for the Ecological Age
  9. Higher Productivity in Importing German Manufacturing firms
  10. Ziele der Partizipation von Kindern und Jugendlichen
  11. Weiterbildung im Bereich AAL – Vom Handwerksmeister zum AAL-Berater in 360 Stunden
  12. Biodiversity conservation research challenges in the 21st century
  13. Desarrollo sostenible y sus aspectos sociales.
  14. Wirksamkeit und Kosteneffektivität eines Online-Trainings zur Reduktion riskanten Alkoholkonsums bei Erwerbstätigen: Ergebnisse einer drei-armigen randomisiert-kontrollierten Studie
  15. The impact of the 2004 EU-enlargement on enterprise performance and exports of service enterprises in the German eastern border region
  16. Guest editorial
  17. Dritte Arbeitstagung für den wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs in der Fremdsprachenforschung
  18. Grundvorstellungen zur Division - auch mit Rest
  19. Einfluss von Nutzung auf die Gefäßpflanzenvielfalt in Wäldern
  20. Intermediaries Driving Eco-Innovation in SMEs: A Qualitative Investigation
  21. The reciprocal iso-inhibition volume concept
  22. Special Issue on Impact Investing – Critical Examinations of Motivations, Processes and Results
  23. Digitale Plattformen
  24. Einführung: Über die Schwierigkeit, Kindern mit Aufmerksamkeitsproblemen zu helfen
  25. Does perceived stress affect the relationship between personality and sports enjoyment?
  26. Betriebs- und Arbeitsplatzdynamik in wissensintensiven Industrien Niedersachsens (1995 - 2001)
  27. The tattooings of cities
  28. Learning from down under - Umgang mit häuslicher Gewalt
  29. Alltag in den Medien - Medien im Alltag
  30. Das System der internationalen Erdölindustrie
  31. Effects of elevated CO2, O3 and K deficiency on Norway spruce (Picea abies)
  32. Beratung in Veränderungsprozessen
  33. Socioeconomic and biophysical factors affect tree diversity in farms producing specialty coffee in Caranavi, Bolivia
  34. Who are the workers who never joined a union?
  35. Strategie als Herausforderung für die deliberative Demokratietheorie
  36. Blended vs. face-to-face cognitive behavioural treatment for major depression in specialized mental health care
  37. Harmonising biodiversity conservation and food security in southwestern Ethiopia
  38. Zehn Jahre European Data Watch
  39. Klingen des W. Gelächter
  40. Existenzgründungsforschung im Ruhrgebiet