IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v24y2013i1p154-171.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Field Investigation of Multilevel Cynicism Toward Change

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine A. DeCelles

    (University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3E6)

  • Paul E. Tesluk

    (University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260)

  • Faye S. Taxman

    (George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030)

Abstract

Although most research on cynicism toward change (CTC) has been conceptualized at the individual level, we propose that CTC is better conceptualized as a multilevel phenomenon, acting as both an employee attitude and an organizational climate. We conducted a multilevel investigation of CTC in a field sample of 687 correctional officers in the 14 prisons in a state penal system. Consistent with our hypotheses, both employee CTC and CTC climate uniquely predicted negative employee attitudes and behaviors directed at the organization. Offering insight into how to address CTC, we found that transformational leadership negatively relates to employee CTC and CTC climate. Our results highlight the importance of studying CTC in organizations from a multilevel perspective and suggest that transformational leadership is significant for supporting both functional employee attitudes and a facilitative climate toward organizational change.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine A. DeCelles & Paul E. Tesluk & Faye S. Taxman, 2013. "A Field Investigation of Multilevel Cynicism Toward Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 154-171, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:154-171
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1110.0735
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0735
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.1110.0735?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew M. Pettigrew, 1990. "Longitudinal Field Research on Change: Theory and Practice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3), pages 267-292, August.
    2. Judith D. Singer, 1998. "Using SAS PROC MIXED to Fit Multilevel Models, Hierarchical Models, and Individual Growth Models," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 23(4), pages 323-355, December.
    3. Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & David Obstfeld, 2005. "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 409-421, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julia Balogun & Jean M. Bartunek & Boram Do, 2015. "Senior Managers’ Sensemaking and Responses to Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 960-979, August.
    2. Bouckenooghe, Dave & Schwarz, Gavin M. & Kanar, Adam & Sanders, Karin, 2021. "Revisiting research on attitudes toward organizational change: Bibliometric analysis and content facet analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 137-148.
    3. Katherine A. DeCelles & Michel Anteby, 2020. "Compassion in the Clink: When and How Human Services Workers Overcome Barriers to Care," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 1408-1431, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sylvain Mondon, 2019. "Transformations organisationnelles, développement durable et temporalités d'action, un cas d'adaptation au changement climatique," Post-Print halshs-02967382, HAL.
    2. Juliane Reinecke & Shaz Ansari, 2015. "What Is a “Fair” Price? Ethics as Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 867-888, June.
    3. Jacqueline Mees-Buss & Catherine Welch & D. Eleanor Westney, 2019. "What happened to the transnational? The emergence of the neo-global corporation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(9), pages 1513-1543, December.
    4. Tina Comes & Bartel Van de Walle & Luk Van Wassenhove, 2020. "The Coordination‐Information Bubble in Humanitarian Response: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Investigations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(11), pages 2484-2507, November.
    5. Mar Pérezts & Jean-Philippe Bouilloud & Vincent Gaulejac, 2011. "Serving Two Masters: The Contradictory Organization as an Ethical Challenge for Managerial Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 33-44, March.
    6. Cecilia Rossignoli & Francesca Ricciardi & Sabrina Bonomi, 2018. "Organizing for Commons-Enabling Decision-Making Under Conflicting Institutional Logics in Social Entrepreneurship," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 417-443, June.
    7. Shahzad (Shaz) Ansari & Nelson Phillips, 2011. "Text Me! New Consumer Practices and Change in Organizational Fields," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1579-1599, December.
    8. Anne-Laure Fayard & Emmanouil Gkeredakis & Natalia Levina, 2016. "Framing Innovation Opportunities While Staying Committed to an Organizational Epistemic Stance," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 302-323, June.
    9. Davenport, Sally, 2005. "Exploring the role of proximity in SME knowledge-acquisition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 683-701, June.
    10. Obeidat, Zaid Mohammad & Xiao, Sarah Hong & Qasem, Zainah al & dweeri, Rami al & Obeidat, Ahmad, 2018. "Social media revenge: A typology of online consumer revenge," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 239-255.
    11. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    12. Verena Brinks, 2016. "Situated affect and collective meaning: A community perspective on processes of value creation and commercialization in enthusiast-driven fields," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(6), pages 1152-1169, June.
    13. Stefan Gröschl & Patricia Gabaldón & Tobias Hahn, 2019. "The Co-evolution of Leaders’ Cognitive Complexity and Corporate Sustainability: The Case of the CEO of Puma," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 741-762, March.
    14. Lehmann, Hans & Gallupe, Brent, 2005. "Information systems for multinational enterprises--some factors at work in their design and implementation," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 163-186, June.
    15. Elena Antonacopoulou, 2018. "Energising critique in action and in learning: The GNOSIS 4R Framework," Action Learning: Research and Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 102-125, May.
    16. Roe, R.A., 2005. "Studying time in organizational behavior," Research Memorandum 046, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    17. Battaglia, Daniele & Landoni, Paolo & Rizzitelli, Francesco, 2017. "Organizational structures for external growth of University Technology Transfer Offices: An explorative analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 45-56.
    18. Guiette, Alain & Vandenbempt, Koen, 2017. "Change managerialism and micro-processes of sensemaking during change implementation," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 65-81.
    19. Martina Linnenluecke & Andrew Griffiths & Peter Mumby, 2015. "Executives’ engagement with climate science and perceived need for business adaptation to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 321-333, July.
    20. Per Engelseth & Richard Glavee-Geo & Artur Janusz & Enoch Niboi, 2020. "The Emergent Nature of Networked Sustainable Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:154-171. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.