Article: Understanding employee cynicism toward change in healthcare contexts Journal: International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management (IJISCM) 2010 Vol.4 No.3 pp.194 - 209 Abstract: As the healthcare sector continues to go through transformational change, it is important to identify organisational factors that impact on employee attitudes to change. There is limited empirical evidence about the determinants of cynicism toward change, particularly in the healthcare sector environment. In this paper, a model is proposed which identifies three key antecedents of cynicism toward change: change information, involvement with change and trust in senior management. Data were collected from two healthcare sector organisations to test the proposed model. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modelling (SEM) suggest that change information, involvement in change processes and trust in senior management influence cynicism toward change. More specifically, evidence is presented which suggests that involvement in change and trust in senior management directly influence cynicism toward change, and that information about change and involvement in change directly influence trust in senior management. Collectively, the antecedent variables accounted for just over 50% of the variance in cynicism toward change. In general terms, the findings will prove helpful to human resource practitioners interested in diagnosing and managing attitudes to change of healthcare employees. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Understanding employee cynicism toward change in healthcare contexts

Authors: Simon Albrecht

Addresses: School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, P.O. Box 197 Caulfield East, Victoria 3145, Australia

Abstract: As the healthcare sector continues to go through transformational change, it is important to identify organisational factors that impact on employee attitudes to change. There is limited empirical evidence about the determinants of cynicism toward change, particularly in the healthcare sector environment. In this paper, a model is proposed which identifies three key antecedents of cynicism toward change: change information, involvement with change and trust in senior management. Data were collected from two healthcare sector organisations to test the proposed model. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modelling (SEM) suggest that change information, involvement in change processes and trust in senior management influence cynicism toward change. More specifically, evidence is presented which suggests that involvement in change and trust in senior management directly influence cynicism toward change, and that information about change and involvement in change directly influence trust in senior management. Collectively, the antecedent variables accounted for just over 50% of the variance in cynicism toward change. In general terms, the findings will prove helpful to human resource practitioners interested in diagnosing and managing attitudes to change of healthcare employees.

Keywords: cynicism; trust; change information; employee involvement; healthcare employees; employee attitudes; attitudes to change; senior management; confirmatory factor analysis; structural equation modelling; change management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISCM.2010.033075

International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, 2010 Vol.4 No.3, pp.194 - 209

Published online: 07 May 2010 *

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Title: Understanding employee cynicism toward change in healthcare contexts

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