Organizational culture and affective commitment to e-learning' changes during COVID-19 pandemic: The underlying effects of readiness for change

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been embracing digital transformation for years, but the disruptive influence of the global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated it. Despite the importance of organizational culture (OC) for the successful delivery of e-learning, empirical studies looking at its impact on academics' readiness and affective commitment to e-learning-induced changes are scant. This study unveils the underlying impacts of multiple employee readiness for change (ERFC) dimensions in the OC-employee affective commitment to change (EACC) relationship. Survey data were obtained from 1,200 Jordanian public HEIs' academics. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data, testing the study's six hypotheses. The findings offer a novel contribution by showing that OC types influence different dimensions of ERFC, each having a distinctive impact on EACC. It further shows that two ERFC dimensions, namely self-efficacy and personal valence, function as full mediators in the relationships between group culture/adhocracy culture and EACC.

The myth of a direct relationship between organizational culture and TQM: propositions and challenges for research

Purpose

This paper aims to report the results of a comprehensive literature review concerned with exploring the distinctive roles of the underlying multidimensional psychological mechanisms through which organizational culture (OC) affects TQM.

Design/methodology/approach

A thorough review of the relevant existing studies focusing on the direct and indirect links between OC, employee readiness for change (ERFC), employee commitment to change (ECC) and TQM implementation was conducted. To identify studies to include in the review, electronic searches of prominent databases and journals were carried out for the period 1980 to 2020.

Findings

The thorough analysis of relevant studies indicates that various types of OC influence TQM through certain psychological mechanisms namely ERFC dimensions and employee affective commitment to change. As a consequence, the paper develops a set of propositions and a novel integrative conceptual framework to explain the mediating roles of ERFCs and EACC in the OC–TQM relationship and then concludes by suggesting future lines of research and highlighting practical managerial implications.

Originality/value

Drawing on academic perspectives from multiple literature streams, this study offers a more advanced understanding of the relationship between OC and TQM implementation via exploring multiple mediating paths.

Does the End Justify the Means? The Role of Organizational Communication among Work-from-Home Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the first months of 2020, the world, and Italy at an early stage, went through the COVID-19 emergency that had a great impact on individual and collective health, but also on working processes. The mandatory remote working and the constant use of technology for employees raised different implications related to technostress and psycho-physical disorders. This study aimed to detect, in such a period of crisis and changes, the role of organizational communication considering the mediating role of both technostress and self-efficacy, with psycho-physical disorders as outcome. The research involved 530 workers working from home. A Structural Equations Model was estimated, revealing that organizational communication is positively associated with self-efficacy and negatively with technostress and psycho-physical disorders. As mediators, technostress is positively associated with psycho-physical disorders, whereas self-efficacy is negatively associated. As regards mediated effects, results showed negative associations between organizational communication and psycho-physical disorders through both technostress and self-efficacy. This study highlighted the potential protective role of organizational communication that could buffer the effect of technostress and enhance a personal resource, self-efficacy, which is functional to the reduction of psycho-physical disorders. This study contributed to literature underlying the role of communication in the current crisis and consequent reorganization of the working processes.

“Everything Will Be Fine”: A Study on the Relationship between Employees’ Perception of Sustainable HRM Practices and Positive Organizational Behavior during COVID19

Sustainable human resource management practices represent one of the main organizational strategy to survive and to prosper within the fast-moving current scenario. According to this view, sustainability is strictly linked to the consideration of the unique and distinctive value that each human resource means for organizations. The recent COVID19 pandemic is having a serious impact on organizations and on their employees, it is profoundly changing the working modalities, mainly introducing smart working practices that were showed to have significant consequences on workers’ wellbeing. This study aims to investigate employees’ perception of sustainable HRM in the frame of the COVID19 emergency, exploring if and to what extent perceptions of involvement and organizational support together with individual coping strategies associated with organizational change could influence positive organizational behaviors, namely organizational engagement and extra-role behavior. The research involved 549 participants who completed a self-report online questionnaire encompassing psycho-social measures of the abovementioned variables. Results confirmed the important role played by sustainable HRM practices both for the capitalization of human resources and of organizational performance in a time of great uncertainty and global crisis. Implications for theory and HRM practice development were also discussed.

Showers, Culture, and Conflict Resolution: A Qualitative Study of Employees' Perceptions of Workplace Wellness Opportunities

OBJECTIVE

Research on employee opinions of workplace wellness programs is limited.

METHODS

At a large academic medical center in Boston, we conducted 12 focus groups on employee perceptions of wellness programs. We analyzed data using the immersion-crystallization approach. Participant mean age (N = 109) was 41 years; 89% were female; 54% were white.

RESULTS

Employees cited prominent barriers to program participation: limited availability; time and marketing; disparities in access; and workplace culture. Encouraging supportive, interpersonal relationships among employees and perceived institutional support for wellness may improve workplace culture and improve participation. Employees suggested changes to physical space, including onsite showers and recommended that a centralized wellness program could create and market initiatives such as competitions and incentives.

CONCLUSION

Employees sought measures to address serious constraints on time and space, sometimes toxic interpersonal relationships, and poor communication, aspects of workplaces not typically addressed by wellness efforts.

Transformational Leadership and Attitude Toward Enterprise Resource Planning System

In order to survive in competitive markets, modern organizations introduce enterprise resourcing planning systems to enhance their competitive positions and their survivability in competitive markets. Nevertheless, organizations often fail to utilize and explore this new system's functionalities to achieve business objectives and have not fulfilled their expected effectiveness after adopting it. Given that countless companies fail to implement ERP systems successfully in recent decades, the aim of this study is to explore the inner workings of employees' attitudes towards ERP systems from the perspective organizational change. The results from a sample of 334 respondents in Taiwan provide additional insight into the mechanism through which transformational leadership influences employees' attitudes towards ERP systems.

Assessing the value of eHealth for bariatric surgery (BePatient trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The expansion of digital devices and widespread access to the Internet has opened up opportunities to provide patients with more personal information. It can be hypothesized that eHealth in addition to standard care could enhance clinical outcomes such as increased weight loss, co-morbidity reduction, and commitment to the program. The beneficial value of incorporating eHealth applications as standard postoperative care is yet to be established. In this trial, the value of different levels of eHealth are assessed.

METHODS/DESIGN

Two hundred adult patients with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m², or ≥ 35 kg/m² with obesity-related co-morbidity, undergoing sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass will be enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. Patients will be randomly assigned to one of the groups: receiving standard care (control group, n = 100); have access to an online eHealth platform in addition to the previous group (online group, n = 50); or receive wireless monitoring devices in addition to previous groups (device group, n = 50). The total follow-up period is two years postoperatively. Primary outcome is weight loss in terms of BMI. Secondary outcomes include: quality of life; return-to-work time; co-morbidity reduction; additional contacts; and ease of use of devices.

DISCUSSION

In this trial, the value of different levels of eHealth will be assessed. This addresses an important aspect of a changing healthcare environment.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Trialregister.nl, NTR6827. Retrospectively registered on 19 November 2017. http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=6827 .

Organizational change in a scenario of political upheaval and economic crisis: a Brazilian case

Purpose

This paper aims to enhance the understanding of organizational change (OC) and the main critical factors to change.

Design/methodology/approach

A single case study was conducted in a large company with operations in Brazil by means of 21 in-depth interviews. A qualitative perspective was applied to scrutinize the data collected.

Findings

Main critical factors, such as commitment and trust, represent pieces of a puzzle that, when put together in a constructive way, draw a path to successful implementation of a change initiative. On the one hand, a country crisis poses as an obstacle to build change initiative credibility. On the other hand, an economic downturn may represent a retention mechanism. This study allowed the authors to draw a diagram with four groups of people based on their engagement with the organization change initiatives and on their seniority. In brief, the company is in a vicious circle. It is prisoner of a negative loop that causes a destructive effect in the change process, and it does not allow them to think out of the box and explore creative alternatives to face the company challenges.

Research limitations/implications

The research presents a few limitations regarding the chosen method and, also, country and company scenario where the research took place.

Practical implications

The results have implications for human resources development (HRD) scholars and practitioners in the planning and implementation of OC-related initiatives.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to OC literature and practitioners by showing the importance of credibility in change initiatives to achieve their successful implementation. This study also supports the strong relationship among main critical factors to change. Finally, the company is locked in a negative loop that stifles the successive attempts to successfully implement the change initiatives.

Measuring the Behavioral Properties of Commitment and Resistance to Organizational Change

The goal of this study was to develop and validate behavioral measures of employees’ commitment and resistance toward organizational change. The scales were developed using an “imposed etic–emic–derived etic” perspective, the act frequency approach, principal components and confirmatory factor analysis. Five Canadian government departments participated across the three stages of the study. The measures were tested in four departments ( N = 583). Both scales were found to be valid and reliable. This study supports the following conclusions. First, resistance to change may not be as conceptualized in the management literature (i.e., strategies or behaviors used by employees to slow down or avoid the implementation of organisational change). Rather, our findings suggest that employees resist change by “voicing their concerns about change.” Second, only those employees who are committed to the change are likely to make the effort to “voice their concerns” to those above them in the hierarchy.

Antiretroviral medication treatment for all HIV-infected individuals: a protocol using innovative multilevel methodologies to evaluate New York City's universal ART policy among problem substance users

BACKGROUND

The intersection of HIV-related health outcomes and problem substance use has been well documented. New York City continues to be a focal point of the U.S. HIV epidemic. In 2011, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) issued a recommendation that all HIV infected individuals should be offered antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of CD4 cell count or other indicators of disease progression. This policy is based in the concept of "treatment as prevention," in which providing ART to people living with HIV (PLWH) greatly reduces the likelihood of HIV transmission, while also improving individual health. The "ART for ALL" (AFA) study was designed to inform modifications to and identify gaps in the implementation of universal ART, and specifically to help guide allocation of resources to obtain local policy goals for increasing viral suppression among PLWH who have problem substance use.

METHODS/DESIGN

The AFA Study is informed by two complementary frameworks: Glasgow and colleagues' RE-AIM model, a multi-level framework developed to guide the evaluation of implementation of new policies, and Bronfrenbrenner's ecological systems model, which conceptualizes the bi-directional interplay between people and their environment. Using multi-level data and mixed methods, the primary aims of the AFA Study are to assess rates of viral load suppression, using the NYC HIV Surveillance Registry, within 12 months of HIV diagnosis with (a) yearly cohorts of high-risk-to-transmit, difficult-to-treat, substance using patients recruited from NYC Sexually Transmitted Disease clinics and a large detoxification unit and (b) yearly cohorts of all newly HIV diagnosed people in NYC. Further goals include (c) recruiting cross-sectional samples of HIV/AIDS service providers to assess ART initiation with problem substance users and d) examining geographic factors that influence rates of viral load suppression. An Implementation Collaborative Board meets regularly to guide study procedures and interpret results.

DISCUSSION

The AFA Study has the unique strength of accessing and analyzing data at multiple levels using mixed methodology, taking advantage of NYC DOHMH biomedical surveillance data. If successful, others may benefit from lessons learned to inform local and state policies to improve the health of PLWH and further reduce HIV transmission.

Active on the Job—Proactive in Change

Two separate samples of a hospital's employees ( N = 166 and 133) obtained at different points in time are used to test a structural equation model of the developmental and socializing effects autonomy at work has on employees' proactivity and its resultant impact on their support for organizational change. In both samples, autonomy positively affected employee role breadth self-efficacy and personal initiative, which in turn had positive though differential relationships with employee responses to change. The model fitting each cross-sectional sample is supported in a third separate, longitudinal sample ( N = 74) of participants in both surveys. Results indicate that the proactivity characteristic of workers enjoying on-the-job autonomy promotes their positive responses to structural change. Promoting worker autonomy itself can be a critical precursor to successful implementation of certain forms of organizational change.

Transformational Leadership, Cohesion Perceptions, and Employee Cynicism About Organizational Change

The impact of supervisors' transformational leadership (TFL), informational and interpersonal justice, and group cohesion perceptions on employee cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) was investigated in a sample of 469 employees from a large Chinese organization undergoing major organizational change. Results indicate that (a) TFL is negatively related to employee CAOC; (b) employee perceptions of group cohesion moderate the relationship between TFL and CAOC such that the higher the cohesion perceptions, the stronger the influence of TFL on employee CAOC; (c) the moderating effect of cohesion perceptions on the TFL—CAOC relationship is fully mediated by interpersonal justice; and (d) informational and interpersonal justice partially mediate the TFL—CAOC relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the process by which TFL impacts CAOC are discussed.

Justice, Cynicism, and Commitment

Recent theoretical and empirical studies have begun to address the commonality between organizational justice and organizational change efforts. In the present study, the authors build on these efforts by investigating the interactive effects of three forms of organizational justice on affective change commitment following the spin-off of a durable goods manufacturer from its parent corporation. Results indicated interactional justice interacted with both procedural and distributive justice. The authors also found procedural and interactional justice predicted organizational cynicism, and each form of justice interacted with cynicism to predict change commitment. Implications for organizations going through a change are discussed.

Impact of change readiness on commitment to technological change, focal, and discretionary behaviors

Purpose

– Commitment to change (C2C), focal and discretionary behaviors are under-researched areas in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of change readiness on employee’s C2C, focal and discretionary behaviors when controlling for gender, qualification, experience, and marital status. In addition, the goal of this study is to determine whether the three-component model of Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) may also be applied in the private manufacturing companies of Karachi (Pakistan).

Design/methodology/approach

– A sample of 205 fulltime employees having administrative and managerial responsibilities in the manufacturing operations is drawn from the manufacturing companies of Karachi undergoing major technological change. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Besides, hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling in AMOS version 22.

Findings

– The standardized estimates of SEM revealed a very good model fit between the structural model and the sample drawn using different modification indices. The results show that appropriateness has significant positive impact on affective C2C and negative impact on continuance C2C when controlling for gender, qualification, and experience. Moreover, affective C2C has significant positive impact on compliance behavior. However, the continuance C2C has significant negative impact and normative C2C has significant positive impact on cooperation when controlling for marital status. The findings may be generalized on other private manufacturing organizations of Karachi.

Originality/value

– This study is one of the first to empirically establish a relationship among change readiness, C2C and active/passive change-related behaviors in the private manufacturing companies of Pakistan. One of the important theoretical contributions of the study is that the three-component model which has been empirically tested in various socio-economic settings in the Western context and in a Pakistani public sector organization may also be employed in the private manufacturing organizations of Pakistan. In particular, with respect to research instrument of “readiness for change” scale, it is also argued that the scale of the fourth dimension (i.e. personally beneficial) needs major revision by adding five to seven Likert-scale items having good content validity and high internal consistency of the measuring scale in the Pakistani context.

Maintaining Employees’ Commitment to Organizational Change

Via a longitudinal study of organizational change, we found that employees’ later commitment to change, in both affective and normative forms, was generally greater when they initially felt more rather than less commitment to change and that more commitment to change was sustained over time when employees perceived their leaders to have provided more transformational and informational justice behaviors within their work units. We also found that employees’ later commitment to change was a strong predictor of employees’ later behavioral support for change and turnover intention. The implications of our findings for how to maintain employee commitment to organizational change will be discussed.

Commitment to organizational change in a Chinese context

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents (psychological contract and perceived reasons for change) and consequences (work behaviors and well-being) of employees’ commitment to organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors developed a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences of commitment to organizational change. In Study 1, based on interviews, the authors developed an instrument to measure the construct “reasons for change.” In Study 2, the authors collected questionnaire data from 228 employees of a Chinese telecom company undergoing organizational changes and tested the conceptual model using structural equation modeling.

Findings

– The results showed that the strength of a relational contract (one form of psychological contract) was positively related to normative commitment to change and negatively related to continuance commitment to change. External reasons for change were positively related to affective and normative commitment to change, whereas internal reasons for change were negatively related to affective commitment to change and positively related to continuance commitment to change. Affective commitment was negatively related to exit and aggressive voice. Continuance commitment was positively related to emotional exhaustion, and normative commitment was negatively related to emotional exhaustion.

Research limitations/implications

– The single-source cross-sectional design limits the robustness of the conclusions drawn from the findings. Two promising avenues were opened for further research: the interaction of employees’ commitment to change at different levels and the process of social construction of perceived reasons for change.

Practical implications

– To facilitate employee commitment to change, organizations should cultivate relational contracts with their employees and attend to the “framing effects” of employees’ perceptions of reasons for change.

Social implications

– This study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between employer-employee relations and employee well-being in Chinese society. It suggests that healthy employer-employee relations are beneficial for employee well-being. Moreover, Chinese firms should pay more attention to the changes occurring inside and outside their organizations, which are related to the psychological health of their employees.

Originality/value

– The study highlights the importance of relational contracts between an organization and its employees during organizational change process. Moreover, it is among the first to examine the relationship between employees’ perceived reasons for change and their commitment to change.

Transformationale Führung und Veränderungsbereitschaft

Der Zusammenhang zwischen transformationaler Führung und Veränderungsbereitschaft wurde bislang nur selten untersucht. Obwohl die meisten Studien moderate Zusammenhänge zeigen, gibt es auch abweichende und inkonsistente Befunde. Eine Erklärung dafür ist, dass neutralisierende bzw. verstärkende Einflüsse von Stressoren und Ressourcen bislang unzureichend berücksichtigt wurden. Daher wurden die moderierenden Effekte von Rollenkonflikten, Spannungen zwischen Kollegen und informatorischen Erschwerungen als Stressoren sowie Handlungsspielraum, soziale Unterstützung und organisationale Gerechtigkeit als Ressourcen in einer Studie mit N = 404 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern einer Organisation untersucht, die sich in einem Veränderungsprozess befand. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Möglichkeit, Veränderungsbereitschaft durch transformationale Führung positiv zu beeinflussen zunimmt, wenn die Mitarbeiter über mehr Ressourcen verfügen und weniger Stressoren ausgesetzt sind. Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf die Bedeutung transformationaler Führung für ein erfolgreiches „Change Management“ diskutiert.

A Study of Workplace Justice Differences During Times of Change

The authors used social comparison theory in conjunction with fairness theory to investigate the impact of differences between personal and third-party perceptions of change justice on commitment to the change and turnover intentions. Results involving data from manufacturing employees, who had recently undergone a sweeping organizational change, indicated that differences in perceived fairness for oneself versus others were negatively related to change commitment but positively related to emotional exhaustion. In addition, results indicated that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between justice differences and the important outcomes of change commitment and turnover intentions. Implications for organizations and future research are discussed.

A Multifoci Person-Centered Perspective on Workplace Affective Commitment: A Latent Profile/Factor Mixture Analysis

The current study aims to explore the usefulness of a person-centered perspective to the study of workplace affective commitment (WAC). Five distinct profiles of employees were hypothesized based on their levels of WAC directed toward seven foci (organization, workgroup, supervisor, customers, job, work, and career). This study applied latent profile analyses and factor mixture analyses to a sample of 404 Canadian workers. The construct validity of the extracted latent profiles was verified by their associations with multiple predictors (gender, age, tenure, social relationships at work, workplace satisfaction, and organizational justice perceptions) and outcomes (in-role performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, and intent to quit). The analyses confirmed that a model with five latent profiles adequately represented the data: (a) highly committed toward all foci; (b) weakly committed toward all foci; (c) committed to their supervisor and moderately committed to the other foci; and (d) committed to their career and moderately uncommitted to the other foci; (e) committed mostly to their proximal work environment. These latent profiles present theoretically coherent patterns of associations with the predictors and outcomes, which suggests their adequate construct validity.

Employee Commitment and Motivation: A Conceptual Analysis and Integrative Model

Theorists and researchers interested in employee commitment and motivation have not made optimal use of each other's work. Commitment researchers seldom address the motivational processes through which commitment affects behavior, and motivation researchers have not recognized important distinctions in the forms, foci, and bases of commitment. To encourage greater cross-fertilization, the authors present an integrative framework in which commitment is presented as one of several energizing forces for motivated behavior. E. A. Locke's (1997) model of the work motivation process and J. P. Meyer and L. Herscovitch's (2001) model of workplace commitments serve as the foundation for the development of this new framework. To facilitate the merger, a new concept, goal regulation, is derived from self-determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985) and regulatory focus theory (E. I. Higgins, 1997). By including goal regulation, it is acknowledged that motivated behavior can be accompanied by different mindsets that have particularly important implications for the explanation and prediction of discretionary work behavior.