When Does Management’s Support for a Change Translate to Perceptions of Fair Treatment? The Moderating Roles of Change Attributions and Conscientiousness

Abstract

Organizational change creates uncertainty and stimulates fairness judgments of employees, which are important determinants of employee attitudes and behaviors. This study investigated the antecedents of employees’ change-related fairness perceptions. Drawing on change implementation literature, attribution theory, and personality research, the authors examined how the effect of management’s change support on individuals’ change fairness perceptions is moderated by change attributions and employees’ conscientiousness level. Using multilevel data from 693 employees in 29 organizations engaged in a variety of changes, hierarchical linear modeling analysis indicated that the relationships between managements’ change support and individual employees’ change fairness perceptions were positive in most conditions. The exception was when the change was externally attributed to conditions not controllable by the management and when the affected employees had lower levels of conscientiousness.