Testing the Mediating Role of Work Engagement in the Relationship between Resistance to Change and Affective Commitment to Change

: The pace of technological development has rapidly changed, so it forces organizations to adapt, and one of the critical thing for change organization is to get employee commitment and reduce employee resistance to change. The aims of this paper are to study the relationship between resistance to change and affective commitment to change mediated by work engagement in one of the large companies in Indonesia. This study discusses the issue of the existence of work engagement at resistance to change and affective commitment to change with previous research showing that engagement influences commitment to change. The dimensions of resistance to change are routine seeking, emotional reaction, short-term focus, and cognitive recognition. The dimensions of work engagement are vigorous, dedication and absorption. Both of these variables are associated with affective commitment to change. The result (N = 334) shows that the mediating role of work engagement in resistance to change can improve affective commitment to change. But the absorption dimension does not have a significant relationship with a commitment to change. It shows that working with high concentration and sinking into work does not sufficiently influence the affective commitment to change.