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Active on the Job—Proactive in Change

How Autonomy at Work Contributes to Employee Support for Organizational Change

Technical University of Munich

Denise M. Rousseau

Carnegie Mellon University

Two separate samples of a hospital's employees (N = 166 and 133) obtained at different points in time are used to test a structural equation model of the developmental and socializing effects autonomy at work has on employees' proactivity and its resultant impact on their support for organizational change. In both samples, autonomy positively affected employee role breadth self-efficacy and personal initiative, which in turn had positive though differential relationships with employee responses to change. The model fitting each cross-sectional sample is supported in a third separate, longitudinal sample (N = 74) of participants in both surveys. Results indicate that the proactivity characteristic of workers enjoying on-the-job autonomy promotes their positive responses to structural change. Promoting worker autonomy itself can be a critical precursor to successful implementation of certain forms of organizational change.

Key Words: organizational change • job autonomy • proactive behavior • socialization • change support

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The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 43, No. 4, 401-426 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0021886307307555


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hornung, S. Articles by Rousseau, D. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?