Abstract
Shaul Oreg contributes to contemporary thinking in organizational change research in significant ways. In his early research, Shaul established the construct of dispositional resistance to change, which captures affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of individuals’ personal orientation toward change. Building on this work, Shaul shows that dispositional resistance to change predicts reactions to specific change, which are subsequently related to individual- and work-related outcomes. Overall, his research provides an in-depth view of reactions to change and an integrative approach to understanding the antecedents and consequences of these reactions. Through the holistic approach that characterizes his research, Shaul is able to uncover nuances at play in the interactions between individual and contextual factors and, thus, contributes to a better understanding of the complexity involved in recipients’ responses to change. This chapter describes Shaul’s personal background and motivation for this line of research, discusses the key contributions of his research and how it impacted other scholars, and outlines his future research trajectory.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartunek, J. M., Rousseau, D. M., Rudolph, J. W., & DePalma, J. A. (2006). On the receiving end: Sensemaking, emotion, and assessments of an organizational change initiated by others. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42(2), 182–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886305285455.
Battistelli, A., Montani, F., & Odoardi, C. (2013). The impact of feedback from job and task autonomy in the relationship between dispositional resistance to change and innovative work behaviour. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(1), 26–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2011.616653.
Beel, J., & Gipp, B. (2009). Google Scholar’s ranking algorithm: The impact of citation counts (an empirical study) [Conference Presentation]. International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science.
Berson, Y., Oreg, S., & Dvir, T. (2008). CEO values, organizational culture and firm outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(5), 615–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.499.
Boohene, R., & Williams, A. A. (2012). Resistance to organisational change: A case study of Oti Yeboah complex limited. International Business and Management, 4(1), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.3968/j.ibm.1923842820120401.1040.
Burnes, B. (2015). Understanding resistance to change–building on Coch and French. Journal of Change Management, 15(2), 92–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2014.969755.
Coch, L., & French, J. R. P. J. (1948). Overcoming resistance to change. Human Relations, 1, 512–532. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674800100408.
Dent, E. B., & Goldberg, S. G. (1999). Challenging “resistance to change”. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35(1), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886399351003.
Dyehouse, M., Weber, N., Fang, J., Harris, C., David, R., Hua, I., & Strobel, J. (2017). Examining the relationship between resistance to change and undergraduate engineering students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes. Studies in Higher Education, 42(2), 390–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1052734.
Erwin, D. G., & Garman, A. N. (2010). Resistance to organizational change: Linking research and practice. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 31(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731011010371.
Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D’Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 362–377. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.31193235.
Foster, R. D. (2010). Resistance, justice, and commitment to change. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 21(1), 3–39. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.20035.
Georgalis, J., Samaratunge, R., Kimberley, N., & Lu, Y. (2015). Change process characteristics and resistance to organisational change: The role of employee perceptions of justice. Australian Journal of Management, 40(1), 89–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/0312896214526212.
Ghitulescu, B. E. (2013). Making change happen the impact of work context on adaptive and proactive behaviors. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 49(2), 206–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886312469254.
Google Scholar. (2016). https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html
Google Scholar – Shaul Oreg. (2016). Shaul Oreg – Google Scholar Profile. https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=-hah7M4AAAAJ&hl=en
Guo, X., Sun, Y., Wang, N., Peng, Z., & Yan, Z. (2013). The dark side of elderly acceptance of preventive mobile health services in China. Electronic Markets, 23(1), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-012-0112-4.
Heidenreich, S., & Handrich, M. (2015). What about passive innovation resistance? Investigating adoption-related behavior from a resistance perspective. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(6), 878–903. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12161.
Heidenreich, S., & Spieth, P. (2013). Why innovations fail: The case of passive and active innovation resistance. International Journal of Innovation Management, 17(05), 1350021–1 – 1350021-42. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1363919613500217.
Herzog, S., & Oreg, S. (2008). Chivalry and the moderating effect of ambivalent sexism: Individual differences in crime seriousness judgments. Law & Society Review, 42(1), 45–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2008.00334.x.
Holten, A.-L., & Brenner, S. O. (2015). Leadership style and the process of organizational change. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 36(1), 2–16. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-11-2012-0155.
Hon, A. H., Bloom, M., & Crant, J. M. (2014). Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing creative performance. Journal of Management, 40(3), 919–941. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311415418.
Kunze, F., Boehm, S., & Bruch, H. (2013). Age, resistance to change, and job performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28(7/8), 741–760. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-06-2013-0194.
Lamm, E., & Gordon, J. R. (2010). Empowerment, predisposition to resist change, and support for organizational change. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 17(4), 426–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051809355595.
Laumer, S., Maier, C., Eckhardt, A., & Weitzel, T. (2016). User personality and resistance to mandatory information systems in organizations: A theoretical model and empirical test of dispositional resistance to change. Journal of Information Technology, 31(1), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2015.17.
Meier, R., Ben, E. R., & Schuppan, T. (2013). ICT-enabled public sector organisational transformation: Factors constituting resistance to change. Information Polity, 18(4), 315–329. https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-130315
Michel, A., Todnem By, R., & Burnes, B. (2013). The limitations of dispositional resistance in relation to organizational change. Management Decision, 51(4), 761–780. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741311326554.
Mulki, J. P., Jaramillo, F., Malhotra, S., & Locander, W. B. (2012). Reluctant employees and felt stress: The moderating impact of manager decisiveness. Journal of Business Research, 65(1), 77–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.01.019.
Mzoughi, N., & M’Sallem, W. (2013). Predictors of internet banking adoption: Profiling Tunisian postponers, opponents and rejectors. The International Journal of Bank Marketing, 31(5), 388–408. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-10-2012-0105.
Nov, O., & Ye, C. (2008). Users’ personality and perceived ease of use of digital libraries: The case for resistance to change. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(5), 845–851. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20800.
Nov, O., & Ye, C. (2009). Resistance to change and the adoption of digital libraries: An integrative model. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(8), 1702–1708. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21068.
Oreg, S., Bayazit, M., Vakola, M., Arciniega, L., Armenakis, A., Barkauskiene, R., et al. (2008). Dispositional resistance to change: Measurement equivalence and the link to personal values across 17 nations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(4), 935. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.4.935. ISBN: 9780226632605
Oreg, S., & Goldenberg, J. (2015). Resistance to innovation: Its sources and manifestations. University of Chicago Press.
Oreg, S., & Katz-Gerro, T. (2006). Predicting proenvironmental behavior cross-nationally values, the theory of planned behavior, and value-belief-norm theory. Environment and Behavior, 38(4), 462–483. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916505286012.
Oreg, S., Nevo, O., Metzer, H., Leder, N., & Castro, D. (2009). Dispositional resistance to change and occupational interests and choices. Journal of Career Assessment, 17(3), 312–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072708330599.
Oreg, S., & Nov, O. (2008). Exploring motivations for contributing to open source initiatives: The roles of contribution context and personal values. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 2055–2073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2007.09.007.
Owens, R. J., & Wedeking, J. (2012). Predicting drift on politically insulated institutions: A study of ideological drift on the United States supreme court. The Journal of Politics, 74(02), 487–500. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381611001691.
Saksvik, I. B., & Hetland, H. (2009). Exploring dispositional resistance to change. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 16(2), 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051809335357.
Saruhan, N. (2013). Organizational change: The effects of trust in organization and psychological capital during change process. Journal of Business Economics and Finance, 2(3), 13–35.
Stewart, W. H., May, R. C., McCarthy, D. J., & Puffer, S. M. (2009). A test of the measurement validity of the resistance to change scale in Russia and Ukraine. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45(4), 468–489. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886309338813.
Talke, K., & Heidenreich, S. (2014). How to overcome pro-change bias: Incorporating passive and active innovation resistance in innovation decision models. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(5), 894–907. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12130.
Turgut, S., Michel, A., Rothenhöfer, L. M., & Sonntag, K. (2016). Dispositional resistance to change and emotional exhaustion: Moderating effects at the work-unit level. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 25(5), 735–750. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2016.1157583.
van Dam, K., Oreg, S., & Schyns, B. (2008). Daily work contexts and resistance to organisational change: The role of leader–member exchange, development climate, and change process characteristics. Applied Psychology, 57(2), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00311.x.
van den Heuvel, S., & Schalk, R. (2009). The relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change during organizational transformations. Social Science Information, 48(2), 283–313. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018409102415.
van den Heuvel, S., Schalk, R., & van Assen, M. A. (2015). Does a well-informed employee have a more positive attitude toward change? The mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment, trust, and perceived need for change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 51(3), 401–422. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018409102415.
van der Smissen, S., Schalk, R., & Freese, C. (2013). Organizational change and the psychological contract: How change influences the perceived fulfillment of obligations. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(6), 1071–1090. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-08-2012-0118.
Walk, M., & Handy, F. (2018). Job crafting as reaction to organizational change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 54(3), 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886318777227.
Further Reading
Oreg, S. (2003). Resistance to change: Developing an individual differences measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 680. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.680.
Oreg, S. (2006). Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(1), 73–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320500451247.
Oreg, S., Bartunek, J., Lee, G., & Do, B. (2018). An affect-based model of recipients’ responses to organizational change events. Academy of Management Review, 43(1), 65–86. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2014.0335.
Oreg, S., & Berson, Y. (2011). Leadership and employees’ reactions to change: The role of leaders’ personal attributes and transformational leadership style. Personnel Psychology, 64(3), 627–659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01221.x.
Oreg, S., & Sverdlik, N. (2011). Ambivalence toward imposed change: The conflict between dispositional resistance to change and the orientation toward the change agent. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(2), 337–349. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021100.
Oreg, S., Vakola, M., & Armenakis, A. (2011). Change recipients’ reactions to organizational change a 60-year review of quantitative studies. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 47(4), 461–524. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886310396550.
Sverdlik, N., & Oreg, S. (2009). Personal values and conflicting motivational forces in the context of imposed change. Journal of Personality, 77(5), 1437–1466. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00588.x.
Sverdlik, N., & Oreg, S. (2015). Identification during imposed change: The roles of personal values, type of change, and anxiety. Journal of Personality, 83(3), 307–319. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12105.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Walk, M. (2020). Oreg, Shaul: Disentangling the Complexity of Recipients’ Responses to Change. In: Szabla, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_86-3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_86-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49820-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49820-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Oreg, Shaul: Disentangling the Complexity of Recipients’ Responses to Change- Published:
- 13 August 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_86-3
-
Shaul Oreg: Disentangling the Complexity of Recipients’ Responses to Change
- Published:
- 27 March 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_86-2
-
Original
Disentangling the Complexity of Recipients’ Responses to Change- Published:
- 24 February 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_86-1