The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Leader Political Behavior on Employee Resistance to Change in the Context of Organizational Change

Abstract

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that approximately two-thirds of organizational changes fail, and among the various factors contributing to these failures, employee resistance to change is a critical one. By examining the antecedents of resistance to change, it has been found that leadership behavior is a significant influencing factor. However, there is a dearth of research on the impact of leader political behavior during organizational change on such resistance. In the process of organizational change, leader political behavior can influence employee psychological states in areas such as work system development, task assignment, and resource allocation, thereby affecting the emergence of employee resistance to change. Scholars have also called for further exploration of the relationship between leader political behavior and employee reactions to change. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of leader political behavior on employee resistance to change during organizational change.
Based on social information processing theory, this study explores the double-edged sword mechanism of leader political behavior on employee resistance to change. From the perspectives of self and relationships, a dual mediation model is constructed with relative deprivation and subordinate dependence as mediators, and the leader-member exchange relationship is introduced as a moderating variable. A high-tech state-owned enterprise was selected as the research object, and a questionnaire survey was conducted among employees experiencing organizational change. To avoid common method variance, data collection was divided into three stages. A total of 280 data points collected from the three stages were tested, and the results supported our research hypotheses.
The results show: First, when employees have a low level of leader-member exchange, they will negatively interpret the information conveyed by leader political behavior during change based on an “outsider” information processing principle. They perceive these behaviors as self-serving and experience increased relative deprivation, leading to greater resistance to change. Second, when employees have a high level of leader-member exchange, they will more positively interpret the information conveyed by leader political behavior based on an “insider” information processing principle. They view these behaviors as developmental, and leader political behavior during change will increase subordinate dependence, thereby reducing employee resistance to change.
This study makes the following theoretical contributions: First, by focusing on leader political behavior, it enriches the antecedent research on resistance to change. Previous research has rarely explored the impact of organizational politics on resistance to change. This study, through empirical analysis, explores the impact of leader political behavior on employee resistance to change, enriching the organizational politics perspective in the literature of resistance to change and providing new explanatory pathways for the reasons behind employee resistance to change. Second, based on social information processing theory, this study reveals the mediating mechanisms of relative deprivation and subordinate dependence between leader political behavior during change and resistance to change from the perspectives of self and relationships. Finally, by introducing the leader-member exchange relationship, this study answers when resistance to change strengthen or weaken employee resistance to change, not only helping to clarify the boundary conditions under which resistance to change exert their influence but also enriching the theoretical application of leader-member exchange as a boundary mechanism.

Key words: Leader Political Behavior, Resistance to Change, Relative Deprivation, Subordinate Dependence, Leader-Member Exchange Relationship

摘要： 大量研究表明,在组织变革期间领导行为会对员工变革抵制产生重要影响,但关于领导政治行为对员工变革抵制的潜在影响鲜有探究。本研究基于社会信息加工理论,探讨了组织变革背景下领导政治行为对员工变革抵制的双刃剑作用机制。通过对三个时间点收集的280份问卷数据进行分析,结果表明:在组织变革中,当领导成员交换关系水平低时,领导政治行为会通过增加员工的相对剥夺感而激发其变革抵制;当领导成员交换关系水平高时,领导政治行为会通过提升下属依赖而减弱其变革抵制。本文结论有助于企业管理者辩证看待组织变革中领导政治行为所发挥的作用,并为组织变革管理实践提供有益借鉴。

关键词: 领导政治行为, 变革抵制, 相对剥夺感, 下属依赖, 领导成员交换关系

CLC Number:

WANG Qiao, LIU Jingjing, WU Zhouyue, ZHOU Xiaohu, LIU Liangcan. The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Leader Political Behavior on Employee Resistance to Change in the Context of Organizational Change[J]. Collected Essays on Finance and Economics, 2024, 40(11): 92-102.

王侨, 刘晶晶, 吴周玥, 周小虎, 刘良灿. 组织变革情景下领导政治行为对员工变革抵制的双刃剑效应[J]. 财经论丛, 2024, 40(11): 92-102.

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