EuroMed Journal of Business

Purpose – This paper aims to identify employee attitudes toward organizational change in the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in the Gaza Strip and factors affecting these attitudes.

Design/methodology/approach – The study used descriptive and analytical methods to investigate the phenomena. The study population includes all the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility employees. The population number was 128. A semi-comprehensive survey was used. A close-ended questionnaire was considered as a main tool for data gathering from the field.

Findings – The study concluded that employee attitudes toward organizational change were positive but weak, which could elicit some supportive behaviors. Employees hold ambivalent cognitions; they believe that change benefits all employees and would increase work efficiency, but they do not see themselves or their departments as contributors to this improvement. In addition, they hold moderate positive emotions of happiness, excitement, relief, and hope. Moreover, employees hold moderate intentions to support the change passively by complying with, and showing acceptance of change. Multiple regression analysis indicated moderate prediction of attitude toward organizational change by four predictors: organizational support, self-efficacy, quality of information, and threat appraisal. The model explained 52.0 percent of variance in employee attitudes toward organizational change.

Practical implications – The paper provides a managerial framework for applying change to organizations successfully and generating a positive employee attitudes and behavior toward change.

Originality/value – This research is the first to be conducted in Palestine and to consider a practical and empirical approach to evaluate management of change in one of the most important service provider institutes in the Gaza Strip.