Designing work for change and its unintended side effects

Abstract

Change is omnipresent in contemporary organizations. Employees' change support (i.e., the provision of time, energy, and contributions to a change process) is a crucial reaction for change to be successful, while employees' frustration (i.e., an intense negative feeling of deprivation) is a counterproductive reaction. Yet, research only recently began to consider work design as an environmental characteristic that can foster the development of new perspectives and thus be beneficial for employees' change support. We expand this research and draw from the work design growth model to argue that job autonomy and job complexity have more nuanced roles in predicting change support than accounted for in the traditional work design literature. Specifically, we propose that job complexity can be a facilitator of change support through its positive effect on employees' active exploration of new ideas (engaging pathway). However, it can also cause cognitive overload in employees, which leads to frustration (straining pathway). This ambivalent nature stands in contrast to job autonomy, which we expect to positively impact change support both via the engaging and straining pathways. Further considering the embeddedness of change in the social context, we explore the moderating role of high-quality contact with colleagues. Data from a 3-wave study with 643 employees supported the beneficial role of job autonomy and pointed to job complexity as a double-edged sword that facilitates change support but also leads to more frustration. High-quality contact strengthened the positive effect of job autonomy on active exploration, with positive downstream consequences for change support.