Exploring influencers of strategic change processes: evidence from five government businesses in the Omani context

Abstract This article presents an exploratory multiple case study conducted on five different government businesses in Oman with the aim of developing a comprehensive framework of strategic change influencers and showing their impact on change implementation and change outcomes. Data was collected via in-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews with forty-two managers from the top, middle and lower levels and staff from different divisions. The study utilizes the process approach and the contingency perspective to highlight the main influencers of multiple strategic change processes. The data was analyzed via thematic analysis. The findings revealed four main influencers across the five cases one of which was found to moderate the effects of the remaining influencers. This study contributes to the fields of organizational change, strategy, leadership and HRM. It offers new and compelling context-specific insights based on a deep understanding of practice. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.