Perceived differences of Austrian, Czech, and Slovakian managers regarding the need for change of future competencies: A self-affirmation perspective

Managers, and especially top and upper managers, are supposed to act as “change leaders” who embrace future changes and constantly improve the status quo. As individual competencies play a key role in tackling upcoming challenges and changes, the purpose of this article is to determine whether top, upper and middle managers from three CEE countries perceive future management competencies differently. The sample consists of 482 managers from different hierarchical levels and industries. After categorizing the answers of two open questions regarding present and future management competencies in five competence classes, a cluster dendrogram as well as a multidimensional scaling method have been used to visualize the expected changes within these competence classes for each country. The analysis reveals that the Austrian top management and Slovakian upper management do not show any willingness to change, leading to a provoking question concerning the role of the middle management as the real driver of change. This surprising finding will be discussed in light of the self-affirmation theory (Steele 1988) describing a psychological mechanism behind the resistance to change.