Determinants of adaptability and its impact on the change readiness of civil servants

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-12-2021-0263
• Published date: 17 June 2022
• Date: 17 June 2022
• Pages: 622-639
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management
• Author: Tan Fee Yean,Fee Cheng Tan,Devika Nadarajah

Determinants of adaptability

and its impact on the change

readiness of civil servants

Tan Fee Yean

School of Business Management, College of Business,

Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia

Fee Cheng Tan

Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit,

Putrajaya, Malaysia, and

Devika Nadarajah

Putra Business School, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose –Underpinned by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this study aimed to examine the mediating

role of employees’adaptability in the relationship between the five managerial climate factors (i.e., trust,

supportiveness, openness, clarity of goals and participative) and change readiness in public sector

organisations.

Design/methodology/approach –Adopting the quantitative approach, data were collected from 379

administrative and diplomatic officers. Analysis was done using partial least squares structural equation

modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings –The results showed that trust and clarity of goals are significant motivational factors that

accelerate employees’adaptability. Adaptability, in turn, was found to mediate the effect of trust and clarity

of goals on employees’change readiness.

Originality/value –This study contributes to theory and practice by examining employees’adaptability as

an intervening variable in the relationship between managerial climate factors and change readiness with

specific reference to the public administration context.

Keywords Organisational change, Managerial climate, Adaptability, Change readiness, Trust,

Clarity of goals

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

“Change is the only constant in life”isaGreekphilosophythathasproventobetruefor

individuals, societies and business organisations alike. In times of change, employees

develop various feelings, thoughts and behaviours toward the change (Oreg et al., 2011).

They thus respond to change in different ways; somemay welcome it and perceive it as an

opportunity for growth, while others may view it as a threat and challenge the status quo

(Fugate and Soenen, 2018). Hence, the line of research on employees’change reactions such

as resistance to change, change readiness, commitment to change and change proactivity

is growing as researchers maintain that employees’change reactions could predict change

success (Ahmad et al., 2021;Oreg et al., 2011,2018). Among these change reactions, change

readiness received the most attention from scholars, even in the most recent studies (e.g.

Alolabi et al.,2021;Erlyani and Suhariadi, 2021;Van Praet and Van Leuven, 2022). In a

recent literature review, Ahmad et al. (2018) suggest that understanding factors that

influence employees’change readiness is more crucial than resistance to change because it

IJPSM

35,5

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Conflict of interest: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0951-3558.htm

Received 1 December 2021

Revised 14 May 2022

27 May 2022

Accepted 31 May 2022

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 35 No. 5, 2022

pp. 622-639

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-12-2021-0263

can be more useful for organisational development interventions as a proactive measure in

ensuring preparedness of organisation to make a strategic change. Roemer et al. (2021)

noted that employees’change readiness that reflects on their affective, cognitive and

behavioural responses is a comprehensive construct useful in determining the extent to

which employees’inclination to accept change, which is a major contributor to change

success. Alalobi et al. (2021) extend this logic and argue that employees who are high in

change readiness put in more effort to support the change and demonstrate significant

levels of persistence in overcoming various obstacles during change implementation.

Employee readiness for change can therefore motivate employees’proactivity and be

resilient in times of change (Rafferty et al., 2013;Sparr et al., 2022). Hameed et al. (2017)

suggest that when readiness in an organisation is high, the organisation is better able to

change quickly and gain a competitive advantage. Hence, change readiness that relates to

employees’receptivity to change deems significant.

Despite an increasing number of studies on organisational change, there is still much

value to be gained by exploring change readiness, especially the role of employees’

adaptability in eliciting it. Van Dam (2013) noted that a clear understanding of the

adaptability–change readiness relationship is still lacking, though adaptability has been

studied in many contexts such as training, leadership and career development (Johnston,

2016;Chen et al., 2020;Reupert, 2020). Correspondingly, Park and Park (2019) reported in their

literature review that the study of adaptability in the organisational change context remains

insufficient, highlighting a knowledge gap that future researchers should elucidate.

Research suggests that an individual’s adaptability can be shaped by contextual factors,

such as the managerial climate of an organisation (Parent and Lovelace, 2018). Schneider and

Barbera (2014) noted that everything that happens in an organisation is due to its managerial

climate, which encompasses the interactions and experiences shared between a manager and

his/her subordinates. The effects of these experiences provide guidelines for individuals’

decisions, ultimately influencing their behaviours at work (Pace and Faules, 1994). Hence, it is

believed that the managerial climate of an organisation is an influential factor in employees’

reactions to change. In order to adapt, an individual will react to change signals in the

external environment (managerial climate), decode them and promptly take action to learn

and search ways to embrace change. However, research linking climate factors, adaptability

and change readiness is scarce (Ahmad et al., 2018;Park and Park, 2019). In particular, little is

known about the specific dimensions of managerial climate that facilitate employees’ability

to adapt and be ready for change.

This study thus sought to address two research gaps in the literature. The first gap

pertains to the lack of research on the adaptability–change readiness relationship. Only a

handful of studies (Muluneh, 2017;Parent and Lovelace, 2018;Van Dam, 2013) have

attempted to test the effect of employees’adaptability in the context of managing change,

indicating the need for more research in this area. The second research gap that requires

attention concerns the predictors of adaptability. Although previous studies (Douglas et al.,

2017;Olafsen et al., 2021) have established links between organisational climate and change

reactions, their results do not provide a clear understanding of which dimensions of

managerial climate promote employees’adaptability and how these dimensions indirectly

lead to change readiness, especially among civil servants. It is indeed timely to study the

impact of these variables on civil servants, given that many countries have been trying to

reform their public sectors in order to gain stability in the global economic structure and to

react to the evolving demands of their constituencies (Poochareon, 2021). The incessant

changes brought forth by the government may have placed a high demand on civil servants,

who have had to respond quickly to reform initiatives. Henceforth, being able to adapt and be

ready for change is likely to be a prominent proficiency that civil servants must possess to

support government transformation plans. However, the biggest concern to ensure the

Change

readiness of

civil servants

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