Employees’ job positions, psychological ownership, and commitment to change

• Main Author: ZHANG, Bo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: job positions; psychological ownership; commitment to change; organisational change; Business Administration, Management, and Operations; Organizational Behavior and Theory; Organization Development
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/477; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1475/viewcontent/GPBA_AY2017_CKGSB_SMU_DBA_Zhang_Bo.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Organisational change is crucial to the development of enterprises. However, when enterprises are implementing major changes, there are great differences in the attitudes and behaviours of employees in different job positions toward changes. Research in this area is insufficient. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the problem of employee commitment amid enterprises’ organisational changes. This dissertation is committed to determining why employees at different levels and with different roles have different degrees of commitment to change and confirming the role of job positions in affecting employees’ psychological ownership of the change process. According to the findings, the impact of employees’ job rank and managerial position on their psychological ownership has three dimensions: having space, pursuing efficacy, and finding self-identity. The higher an employee’s rank or managerial position, the greater their sense of psychological ownership will be. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between psychological ownership and continuance commitment to change; a U-shaped relationship between psychological ownership and affective commitment to change; and a U-shaped relationship between psychological ownership and normative commitment to change. The above assumptions are tested using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In addition to enriching studies of organisational change, commitment to change and psychological ownership, this dissertation provides an important reference for enterprises’ change practices.