This study tested the utility of a stress and coping model of employee adjustment to a merger. Two hundred and twenty employees completed both questionnaires (Time 1: 3 months after merger implementation; Time 2: 2 years later). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that positive event characteristics predicted greater appraisals of self-efficacy and less stress at Time 1. Self-efficacy, in turn, predicted greater use of problem-focused coping at Time 2, whereas stress predicted a greater use of problem-focused and avoidance coping. Finally, problem-focused coping predicted higher levels of job satisfaction and identification with the merged organization (Time 2), whereas avoidance coping predicted lower identification.
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G.1991. Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
Aldwin, C. M., & Revenson, T. A.1987. Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology53: 337-348.
3.
Andrade, G., Marks, M., & Stafford, E.2001. New evidence and perspectives on mergers. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15: 103-120.
4.
Appelbaum, S. H., Gandell, J., Shapiro, B. T., Belisle, P., & Hoeven, E.2000. Anatomy of a merger: Behavior of organizational factors and processes throughout the pre-, during-, and post-stages. Management Decision, 38: 674-680.
5.
Armenakis, A. A., & Bedeian, A. G.1999. Organizational change: A review of theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of Management, 25: 293-315.
6.
Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W.1993. Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46: 681-703.
7.
Armstrong-Stassen, M., Cameron, S. J., Mantler, J., & Horburgh, M. E.2001. The impact of hospital amalgamation on the job attitudes of nurses. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 18: 149-162.
8.
Ashford, S. J.1988. Individual strategies for coping with stress during organizational transitions. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 24: 19-36.
9.
Ashford, S. J., Blatt, R., & VandeWalle, D.2003. Reflections of the looking glass: A review of research on feedback-seeking behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 6: 773-780.
10.
Bagozzi, R. P., & Heatherton, T. F.1994. A general approach to representing multifaceted personality constructs: Application to state self-esteem. Structural Equation Modeling, 1: 35-67.
11.
Bandalos, D. L.2002. The effects of parceling on goodness-of-fit and parameter estimate bias in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 9: 78-102.
12.
Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H.1981. The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events.Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4: 139-157.
13.
Bodensteiner, W. D., Gerloff, E. A., & Quick, J. C.1989. Uncertainty and stress in an R&D project environment. R&D Management, 19: 309-323.
14.
Burke, W. W.2002. Organization change: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
15.
Byrne, B. M.1994. Structural equation modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Van Harrison, R. V., & Pinneau, S. R.1975. Job demands and worker health. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
17.
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. L.1992. Mergers and acquisitions: The human factor. Oxford, UK: Butterworth/ Heinemann.
18.
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. L.1993. The psychological impact of merger and acquisition on the individual: A study of building society managers. Human Relations, 46: 327-348.
19.
Cartwright, S., & Panchal, S.2001. The stressful effects of mergers and acquisitions. In J. Dunham (Ed.),Stress in the workplace: Past, present and future: 67-89. London: Whurr.
20.
Conlon, D. E., & Shapiro, D. L.2002. Employee postings and company responses to downsizing inquiries: Implications for managing and reacting to organizational change. Advances in Qualitative Organization Research, 4: 39-67.
21.
Cropanzano, R., Howes, J. C., Grandey, A. A., & Toth, P.1997. The relationship of organizational politics and support to work behaviors, attitudes, and stress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18: 159-180.
22.
Cunningham, C. E., Woodward, C. A., Shannon, H. S., MacIntosh, J., Lendrum, B., Rosenbloom, D., & Brown, J.2002. Readiness for organizational change: A longitudinal study of workplace, psychological and behavioural correlates. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75: 377-392.
23.
Daly, J. P., Pouder, R. W., & Kabanoff, B.2004. The effects of initial differences in firms' espoused values on their postmerger performance. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 40: 323-343.
24.
DiGeorgio, R. M.2003. Making mergers and acquisitions work: What we know and don't know: Part II. Journal of Change Management, 3: 259-274.
25.
Dunphy, D. C., & Stace, D. A.1990. Under new management: Australian organizations in transition. Sydney, Australia: McGraw-Hill.
26.
Epstein, M. J.2004. The drivers of success in post-merger integration. Organizational Dynamics, 33: 174-189.
27.
Feldman, D. C., & Brett, J. M.1983. Coping with new jobs: A comparative study of new hires and job changers. Academy of Management Journal, 26: 258-272.
28.
Folkman, S.1984. Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46: 839-852.
29.
Fried, Y., Tiegs, R. B., Naughton, T. J., & Ashford, B. E.1996. Managers' reactions to a corporate acquisition: A test of an integrative model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17: 401-427.
30.
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Scheck, C. L.2002. Coping with an organizational merger over four stages. Personnel Psychology, 55: 905-928.
31.
Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Bachman, B. A., & Rust, M. C.1993. The common ingroup identity model: Recategorization and the reduction of intergroup bias. European Review of Social Psychology, 4: 1-26.
32.
Gagné, M., Koestner, R., & Zuckerman, M.2000. Facilitating acceptance of organizational change: The importance of self-determination. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30: 1843-1852.
33.
Hart, P. M.1999. Predicting employee life satisfaction: A coherent model of personality, work and nonwork experiences, and domain satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84: 564-584.
34.
Haslam, S. A., Postmes, T., & Ellemers, N.2003. More than a metaphor: Organizational identity makes organizational life possible. British Journal of Management, 14: 357-369.
35.
Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. J.2001. Social identity processes in organizational contexts. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
36.
Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H.1967. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11: 213-218.
37.
Hoyle, R. H.1995. Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
Hyde, A., & Paterson, J.2002. Leadership development as a vehicle for change during merger. Journal of Change Management, 2: 266-271.
39.
Iaffaldano, M. T., & Muchinsky, P. M.1985. Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 97: 251-273.
40.
Idel, M., Melamed, S., Merlob, P., Yahav, J., Hendel, T., & Kaplan, B.2003. Influence of a merger on nurses' emotional well-being: The importance of self-efficacy and emotional reactivity. Journal of Nursing Management, 11: 59-63.
41.
Innes, P. A.2004. A decade of downsizing: Understanding the contours of change in Australia, 1990-99. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42: 229-242.
42.
Irvine, D. M., & Evans, M. G.1995. Job satisfaction and turnover among nurses: Integration research findings across studies. Nursing Research, 44: 246-253.
43.
Jetten, J., O'Brien, A., & Trindall, N.2002. Changing identity: Predicting adjustment to organizational restructure as a function of subgroup and superordinate identification. British Journal of Social Psychology, 41: 281-297.
44.
Jimmieson, N. L., Terry, D. J., & Callan, V. J.2004. A longitudinal study of employee adaptation to organizational change: The role of change-related information and change-related self-efficacy. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9: 11-27.
45.
Johnson, R. J., Bernhagen, M. J., Miller, V. D., & Allen, M.1996. The role of communication in managing reductions in work force. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 24: 139-164.
46.
Jordan, P. J., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Hartel, C. E. J.2002. Emotional intelligence as a moderator of emotional and behavioral reactions to job insecurity. Academy of Management Review, 27: 361-372.
47.
Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Pucik, V., & Welbourne, T. M.1999. Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84: 107-122.
48.
Kiefer, T.2002. Understanding the emotional experience of organizational change: Evidence from a merger. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4: 39-61.
49.
Kishton, J. M., & Widaman, K. F.1994. Unidimensional versus domain representative parceling of questionnaire items: An empirical example. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54: 757-765.
50.
Korunka, C., Weiss, A., Huemer, K. H., & Karetta, B.1995. The effect of new technologies on job satisfaction and psychosomatic complaints. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 44: 123-142.
51.
Latack, J. C.1986. Coping with job stress: Measures of future directions for scale development. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71: 377-385.
52.
Lazarus, R. S.1990. Theory based stress management. Psychological Inquiry, 1: 3-13.
53.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S.1984. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
54.
Leana, C. R., & Feldman, D. C.1988. Job loss: Individual perceptions, reactions, and coping behaviors. Journal of Management, 14: 375-390.
55.
Leana, C. R., & Feldman, D. C.1995. Finding new jobs after a plant closing: Antecedents and outcomes of the occurrence and quality of reemployment. Human Relations, 48: 1381-1401.
56.
Lewis, L. K., & Seibold, D. R.1996. Communication during intraorganizational innovation adoption: Predicting users' behavioral coping responses to innovations. Communication Monographs, 63: 131-157.
57.
Little, T. D., Cunningham, W. A., Shahar, G., & Widaman, K. F.2002. To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling, 9: 151-173.
58.
MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. W., & Sugawara, H. M.1996. Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1: 130-149.
59.
Marks, M. L., & Mirvis, P.1992.Rebuilding after the merger: Dealing with survivor sickness. Organizational Dynamics, 2: 18-32.
60.
Marks, M. L., & Mirvis, P.1998. Joining forces. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
61.
Martin, A. J., Jones, E. S., & Callan, V. J.2005. The role of psychological climate in facilitating employee adjustment during organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 14: 263-289.
62.
McKee-Ryan, F. M., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. R., & Kinicki, A. J.2005. Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90: 53-76.
63.
Miller, V. D., Johnson, J. R., & Grau, J.1994. Antecedents to willingness to participate in a planned organizational change. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 22: 59-80.
64.
Nelson, A., Cooper, C. L., & Jackson, P. R.1995. Uncertainty amidst change: The impact of privatization on employee job satisfaction and well-being. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 68: 57-71.
65.
Papadakis, V.2005. The role of broader context and the communication program in merger and acquisition implementation success. Management Decision, 43: 236-256.
66.
Piderit, S. K.2000. Rethinking and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organization change. Academy of Management Review, 25: 783-794.
67.
Podsakoff, P. M., McKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P.2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88: 879-903.
68.
Podsakoff, P. M., & Organ, D. W.1986. Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12: 531-544.
69.
Porras, J. I., & Silvers, R. C.1991. Organization development and transformation. Annual Review of Psychology, 42: 51-78.
70.
Rafferty, A. E., & Griffin, M. A. In press. Perceptions of organizational change: A stress and coping perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology.
71.
Richardson, P., & Denton, D. K.1996. Communicating change. Human Resource Management, 35: 203-216.
72.
Rigsby, J. T., Siegel, P. H., & Spiceland, J. D.1998. Mentoring among management advisory services professionals: An adaptive mechanism to cope with rapid corporate change. Managerial Auditing Journal, 13: 107-114.
73.
Riketta, M.2005. Organizational identification: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66: 358-384.
74.
Sagie, A., & Koslowsky, M.1994. Organizational attitudes and behaviors as a function of participation in strategic and tactical change decisions: An application of path-goal theory. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15: 37-47.
75.
Sagie, A., & Koslowsky, M.1996. Decision type, organizational control, and acceptance of change: An integrative approach to participative decision-making. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 45: 85-92.
76.
Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M.1988. Scaling corrections for chi-square statistics in covariance structure analysis. In the American Statistical Association Proceedings of the Business and Economic Sections: 308-313. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.
77.
Scheck, C. L., & Kinicki, A. J.2000. Identifying the antecedents of coping with an organizational acquisition: A structural assessment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21: 627-648.
78.
Schweiger, D. M., & DeNisi, A. S.1991. Communication with employees following a merger: A longitudinal field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 34: 110-135.
79.
Scott, K. D., & Taylor, G. S.1985. An examination of conflicting findings on the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism: A meta-analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 28: 599-612.
80.
Shaw, J. B., Fields, M. W., Thacker, J. W., & Fisher, C. D.1993. The availability of personal and external coping resources: Their impact on job stress and employee attitudes during organizational restructuring. Work and Stress, 7: 229-246.
81.
Skinner, E., & Edge, K.2002. Self-determination, coping, and development. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research: 297-337.
82.
Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. Skinner, E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H.2003. Searching for the structure of coping: A review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin, 129: 216-269.
83.
Smith, R. E., Leffingwell, T. R., & Ptacek, J. T.1999. Can people remember how they cope? Factors associated with discordance between same-day and retrospective reports. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76: 1050-1061.
84.
Staw, B. M., Sandelands, L. E., & Dutton, J. E.1981. Threat rigidity effects in organizational behavior: A multilevel analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25: 501-524.
85.
Sutton, R. I., & Kahn, R. L.1986. Prediction, understanding, and control as antidotes to organizational stress. In J. Lorsch (Ed.),Handbook of organizational behavior: 272-285. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
86.
Sverke, M., Hellgren, J., & Öhrming, J.1997. Hospital corporatization: How are nurses' job perceptions and workrelated attitudes affected?Reports from the Department of Stockholm, 819: 1-26.
87.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S.2001. Applied multivariate analyses for the social sciences (4th ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
88.
Tajfel, H.1981. Social stereotypes and social groups. In J. Turner & H. Giles (Eds.),Intergroup behaviour: 144-167. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
89.
Terry, D. J., Callan, V. J., & Sartori, G.1996. A test of a stress-coping model of adjustment to a large-scale organizational change.Stress Medicine, 12: 105-122.
90.
Terry, D. J., & Hogg, M. A.1996. Group norms and the attitude-behavior relationship: A role for group identification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22: 776-793.
91.
Terry, D. J., & Jimmieson, N. L.2003. A stress and coping approach to organizational change: Evidence from three field studies. Australian Psychologist, 38: 92-101.
92.
Tett, R. P., & Meyer, J. P.1993. Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and turnover: Path analyses based on meta-analytic findings. Personnel Psychology, 46: 259-293.
93.
Thoits, P. A.1983. Dimensions of life events as influences upon the genesis of psychological distress and associated conditions: An evaluation and synthesis of the literature. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.),Psychological stress: Trends in theory and research: 33-103. New York: Academic Press.
94.
Van de Ven, A., & Huber, G.1990. Longitudinal field research methods for studying processes of organizational change. Organizational Science, 1: 213-219.
95.
van Knippenberg, D., van Knippenberg, B., Monden, L., & de Lima, F.2002. Organizational identification after a merger: A social identity theory perspective. British Journal of Social Psychology, 41: 233-252.
96.
Wanberg, C. R., & Banas, J. T.2000. Predictors and outcomes of openness to changes in a reorganizing workplace. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85: 132-142.
97.
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S.2005. Developing management skills. Uppen Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Biographical Notes.
