A communication model of employee cynicism toward organizational change
Corporate Communications: An International Journal
ISSN: 1356-3289
Article publication date: 6 August 2008
Abstract
Purpose
The study was designed to generate and test a model of employee cynicism toward organizational change from the communication perspective in a higher education institution.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the theoretical framework of social information processing (SIP), the study investigated the communication processes in the social context, which contributed to employee cynicism toward organizational change in the higher education setting. Path analysis was used to test the overall model fit.
Findings
The findings suggest that the three variables, perceived quality of information, cynicism of colleagues, and trust in the administration, predict change‐specific cynicism, which, in turn, lead to intention to resist change.
Research limitations/implications
As an initial attempt to explain employee cynicism toward organizational change in higher education settings, this model inevitably has loose ends. Further research is needed to expand the model from a communication perspective.
Practical implications
The research provided administrators with strategies and advices to cope with employee cynicism during organizational change.
Originality/value
This is the first known study to examine the concept of change‐specific cynicism within the theoretical framework of SIP. It points to a new direction which warrants the attention of communication scholars.
Keywords
Citation
Qian, Y. and Daniels, T.D. (2008), "A communication model of employee cynicism toward organizational change", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 319-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280810893689
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited