Exploring employee uncertainty in oranisational change : personality, trust and leader communication style

Abstract

This study aimed to explore antecedents to employee uncertainty in organisational change. While studies on change have often focused on resistance or openness to change, uncertainty has received less attention, but may be argued to provide a more inherently proactive perspective. Reflecting this, research on the concept of Uncertainty in change has emphasised the role of change communication and trust. The current study explored potential relationships between employee uncertainty in a specific change process and concepts related to change communication and trust, namely observed leader communication style and disposition to trust. Additionally, a core argument in this paper is based on how a social projection account of Honesty-Humility, one of the HEXACO model of personality dimensions, may be conceptually and empirically related to disposition to trust, and potentially Uncertainty in change. Previous research relating other personality structures to change related concepts such as resistance to change, indicate that other HEXACO personality dimensions may also be expected to predict uncertainty. A set of multiple regression analyses were conducted using data collected from participants employed in the administration of a large, Norwegian municipality, who had recently been affected by comprehensive organisational restructuring. The findings indicated that HEXACO Emotionality positively predicted Uncertainty in change, while no significant results were found for Honesty-Humility, Propensity to trust or leader communication styles. Nonetheless, the study has succeeded in bringing together several relevant elements of organisational psychology which interrelations have previously not been explored, and may inspire future research to investigate these concepts further.