Top management’s hypocrisy and employee’s resistance to change: Explaining the mediating role of trust to top management

پژوهش نامه مدیریت تحول

Article 3, Volume 6, Autumn & Winter 2014 - Serial Number 12, February 2015, Pages 49-71   

Document Type: Articles

DOI: 10.22067/pmt.v6i12.48103

Authors

Mostafa Hadavinejad^* ; Fatemeh Ebadi

Vali-e-Asr University

Abstract

Employee’s resistance to change and the need to recognize its affecting factors in order to manage it has an important role in organizational development management. This study has examined the impact of top management’s hypocrisy on employee’s resistance to change and investigates mediating role of employees’ trust to top management. Based on the research variables, a questionnaire was designed and tested to assure its validity and reliability, and distributed among 323 employees of public organizations in the city of Rasht. In order to examine research hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis was used and measurement models were estimated followed by multiple regression analysis to examine the fitness of data to structural equation models. Results of data analysis confirmed the relations among model’s variables and mediating role of trust. As a result, it became clear that in at 99 percent of confidence level, top management’s hypocrisy has a negative impact on employee’s trust to top management and in turn, trust has a declining role in employee’s resistance to change.

Keywords

Hypocrisy; Manager’s hypocrisy; Resistance to change; Trust

References

Applebaum, S. H., & Hughes, B. (1998). Ingratiation as a political tactic: effects within the organization. Management Decision, 36(2), 85-95.

Argyris, C., & Schon, D. (1974). Theory in practice: increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Armenakis, A. A.; Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W. (1993). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46(6), 681-703.

Aronson E. (1992). The return of the repressed: dissonance theory makes a comeback. Psychological Inquiry, 3(4), 303–311.

Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. A. (1998). The power of resistance: sustaining valued identities. in R. M. Kramer, & M. A. Neale (Eds.), Power and influence in organizations, 89-120. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Baron, R., & Kenny, D. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social–psychological research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.

Bartlem, C. S., & Locke, E. A. (1981). The Coch and french. study: a critique and reinterpretation. Human Relations, 34(7), 555-566.

Bass, J. E., & Von Glinow, M .W. A. (1999). Ethical ambivalence and organizational reward systems. Academy of Management Review, 10(4), 20-32.

Beer, M. (1976). On gaining influence and power for O.D. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 12(1), 45-51.

Bowen, D. D. (1977). Value dilemmas in organization development. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 13(4), 543-556.

Brockner, J. P. A.; Siegel, J.; Daly T. R.; Tyler, T. R., & Martin, C. (1997). When trust matters: the moderating effect of outcome favorability. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(3), 558- 583.

Brown, J. S., & Farber, I. E. (1951). Emotions conceptualized as intervening variables: with suggestions toward a theory of frustration. Psychological Bulletin, 48(6), 465-495.

Burke, W. W. (1976). Organization development in transition. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 12(1), 22-43.

Carnevale, D. G., & Wechsler, B. (1992). Trust in the public sector. Administration & Society, 23(4), 471-494.

Cashman, K. (1982). Leadership from the inside out. Provo, UT; Executive excellence publishing.

Coch, L., & French, J. R. (1948). Overcoming resistance to change. Human Relations,1(4), 512- 532.

Cook, J., & Wall, T. (1980). New work attitude work measures of trust, organizational commitment and personal need non-fulfillment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53(1), 39- 52.

Cooper, J., & Fazio, R . H. A. (1984). New look at dissonance theory. in L. berkowitz (Ed.), Advances In Experimental Social Psychology, 115-264. Orlando, FL: academic press.

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, P. (2005). Organization developmentand change. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.

Dent, E. B., & Goldberg, S. G. (1999). Challenging resistance to change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, 35(1), 25-41.

Dirks, K. T. (2006). Three fundamental questions regarding trust in leaders. in R. Bachmann & A. Zaheer (Eds.). Handbook of Trust Research 15-28. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Fidell, L. S., & Tabachnick, B. G. (2001). Using multivariate statistics. needham heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Fried, C., & Aronson, E. (1995). Hypocrisy, misattribution and dissonance reduction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21(9), 925-933.

Galford, R., & Drapeau, A. S. (2003). The enemies of trust. Harvard Business Review, 81(2), 88-95.

Gersick, C. J. G. (1991). Revolutionary change theories: a multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 10-36.

Gilby T. (1979). Hypocrisy. In P. K. Meagher, T. C. O'Brien & S. C. M. Aherne (Eds.), Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion 1752.

Washington, D. C.: corpus publications.

Greenleaf, R .F. (1970). Servant leadership: a journal into nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press, Mahwah, NT.

Hadavinejad, M. (2011). Exploring the phenomenon of hypocritical behaviors in interpersonal communication at workplace: creating and testing a grounded theory using exploratory mixed methods. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tarbiat Modares University (in Persian).

Hadavinejad, M.; Danaeifard, H.,; Azar, A., & Khaefelahi, A. (2010). Exploring the process of hypocritical behaviors in interpersonal communication in the workplace using grounded theory. Strategic Management Thought, 4(1), 81-130. (in Persian).

Harman, D. A. (1967). A Single factor test of common method variance. Journal of Psychology, 35,359–378.

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1989). Management of organizational behavior utilizing human resources. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Johnson-George, C., & Swap, W. C. (1982). Measurement of specific interpersonal trust: construction and validation of a scale to assess trust in a specific other. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(6),1306-1340.

Kanter, M. A. (1985). Managing the human side of change. Management Review, 74(4), 52-56.

Kanter, R., & Mirris, A. (1989). Work and family in US: a critical review and agenda for research and policy. Family Business Review, 2(1), 114- 234.

Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24(2), 163–204.

Kazemi, M., & Ramezani, Y. (2012). Investigating the relationship between trust in management, knowledge sharing, and intermediating role of losing knowledge value and documentation. Transformation Management Journal, 4(8), 107-124. (in Persian).

Keen, P. G. W. (1981). Information systems and organizational change. Communications of the ACM, 24(1), 24 - 33.

Kerr, S. (1993) . On The folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. Academy of Management Excecutive, 9(1), 7-14.

Kim, S. (2006). Public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior in Korea. International Journal of Manpower, 27(8), 722-740.

Kramer, R. M. (1996). Divergent realities and convergent disappointments in the hierarchic. In R. M. Kramer, & T. R. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in organizations: frontiers of theory and research, 216-245. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Krejcie, R., & Morgan, D. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607-610.

Lawrence, P. R. (1954). How to deal with resistance to change. Harvard Business Review, 32(3), 49-57.

Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method, and reality in social science, Social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5-41.

Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in social science. New York: Harper and Row.

Lewin, D. (2002). The place of organizational politics in strategic change. Strategic Change, 11(1), 25-34.

Lomax, R. G. (2004). A Beginner’s guide to structural equation modeling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Lunenburg, F. C., & Houston, A. O. (2010). Educational administration: concepts and practices. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage.

Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (1999). The effect of the performance appraisal system on trust for management: a field quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(1), 123-136.

Morgan, G. (1997). Images of organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Morgan, D. E., & Zeffane, R. (2003). Employee involvement, organizational change and trust in management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1), 55-75.

Nyhan, R. C. (2000). Changing the paradigm: trust and its role in public sector organizations. American Review of Public Administration, 30(1), 87- 109.

Oreg, S. (2003). Resistance to change: developing an individual differences measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 30-52.

Piderit, S. K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: a multidimensional view of attitudes toward organizational change. Academy of Management, 25(4), 783-794.

Podsakoff, P. M.; MacKenzie, S. B.; Paine, J. B., & Bachrach, D. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: a critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of Management, 26(3), 513-563.

Rempel, J.; Holmes, J. G., & Zanna, M. P. (1985). Trust in close relationships. Journal Personality and Social Psychology, 49(1), 95-112.

Rousseau, D. M., & Tijoriwala, S. A. (1999). What’s a good reason to change? motivated reasoning and social accounts in promoting organizational change (TIMS). The Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(4), 514-528.

Scott, C. (1980). Interpersonal trust: a comparison of attitudinal and situational factors. Human Relations, 33(11), 805-812.

Shapiro, D. L.; Lewicki, R. J., & Devine, P. (1995). When do employees choose deceptive tactics to stop unwanted organizational change? R. J. Lewicki; B. H. Sheppard, & R. Bies (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations, 155-183.

Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc.

Sherman, W. S., & Garland, G. E. (2007). Where to bury the survivors? exploring possible post effects of resistance to change. S. A. M. Advanced Management Journal, 72(1), 52-62.

Shirazi, A.; Khodaverdian, E., & Naeemi, M. (2012). The effect of organizational trust on organizational citizenship behaviors (Case of: North Khorasan Gas Company), Transformation Management Journal, 4(7), 133-153. (in Persian).

Spreitzer, G. M., & Quinn, R. E. (1996). Empowered to lead: the role of psychological empowerment in leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(4), 511-526.

Tan, H., & Tan, C. (2000). Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organization. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 126(2), 241-260.

Vest, J.; David, L.; Duhon, M.; Karen, A.; Tarnoff, J., & Carr, C. (2005). The influence of trust in top management and attitudes toward appraisal and merit systems on perceived quality of care. proceedings of the decision sciences institute, southwestern region, 266-467.

Vlaar, A. J.; Paul, W. L.; Van den, B., & Henk, W. (2007). Using formalization as a means to make sense coping with problems of understanding in interorganizational relationships. Organization Studies, 27(11), 1617-1638.

Watson, T. J. (1982). Group ideologies and organizational change. Journal of Management Studies, 19(3), 259-275.

Weinbach, R. (1994). Implementing change: insights and strategies for the supervisor. Social Work, 29(3), 282-286.

Whitener, E. M.; Bordet, S. E.; Korsgaard, M. A., & Werner, J. M. (1998). Managers as initiators of trust: an exchange relationship framework for understanding managerial trustworthy behavior. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 513-530.

Williams, A. A., & Boohene, R. (2012). Resistance to organizational change: a case study of oti yeboah complex limited. International Business and Management, 4(1), 323-410.

Worthke, W., & Arbuckle, J. L. (1999). Amos users’ guide, version 4.0. Chicago: small waters.

Zander, A. F. (1950). Resistance to change: Its analysis and prevention. Advanced Management, 4(5), 9-11.