Employee readiness for change: examining the combined effects of individual and organizational demands in public school reform

• Date: 10 July 2024
• Pages: 613-629
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-07-2023-0230
• Published date: 10 July 2024
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management
• Author: Cyrill Julian Kalbermatten

Employee readiness for change:

examining the combined effects

of individual and organizational

demands in public school reform

Cyrill Julian Kalbermatten

KPM Center for Public Management, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Abstract

Purpose –The paperaims to clarifyhow work-specificcharacteristicsat both the individualand organizational

level influence professional civil servants’readiness for change during the implementation of reforms in public

administration.We examine the influenceof work characteristics at theindividual andorganizationallevels, such

as reform-related strains,organizationalclimate, and organizational professionalism,on the employees’response

to change.In addition, we also considerthe interaction between these specific work characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach –This article employs a quantitative multi-level analysis to examine the

influenceof individualand collectivepredictorsof employees’readinessfor change.For our analysis,we used data

fromthe evaluationof a school reformin Switzerlandaimed at aligningteachers’working conditions with those of

other administrative employees. The survey conducted for t he evaluation includes responses from 2,162 teachers.

Findings –Our study expands the understanding in public management research of work characteristics that

either promote or reduce employees’readiness for change in the public sector. Our findings suggest that the

organizational level, in our case the school level, influences the individual’s response to change. Furthermore,

the role of organizational professionalism in terms of a reform-related transformation of the identities,

structures, and practices of the actors concerned is highlighted as a potential stressor and catalyst that

reinforces the negative correlation between reform-related stress and willingness to change.

Practical implications –This paper offers insights into how public managers can effectively overcome

challenges in the implementation process of public school reforms. This also includes the awareness among

change agents that positively associated changes at the organizational level may have negative consequences

at the individual level, due to the fact that they affect professional understanding, for example, which may

cause the affected actors to respond with resistance.

Originality/value –This paper contributes to the small number of multi-level research studies on the

responses to change in public administration and answers the call for research to investigate the hurdles that

may arise when implementing change. Further, the paper contributes to the literature on the impact of new

public management (NPM) on the identity of professional civil servants.

Keywords Readiness for change, Reform implementation, Organizational professionalism,

Quantitative multilevel analysis

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

The education sector, like many other areas of public administration, has undergone reforms

influenced by new public management (Aoki, 2019). However, many of these reforms have

faileddue to resistance fromteachers (Allen et al., 2020).Surprisingly, this issuehas been under-

representedin public management journals(Fernandez and Rainey, 2006). While theimpact of

these reforms on organizational processes has received attention, the influence on working

conditions and the response of public sector employees has been given less consideration

(Winter et al., 2022). This is problematic, as readiness for change (RFC) is a key factor for

successful reform implementation (Fernandez and Pitts, 2007;Li, 2017;Ritz et al., 2012).

We know from previousstudies that the RFC of teachers in specificis decisive for a successful

reform, as they are the actualimplementers of the reform (Fullan, 2011).

International

Journal of Public

Sector

Management

613

Conflict of interest disclosure: There are no conflicts 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 6 September 2023

Revised 30 January 2024

22 March 2024

Accepted 25 March 2024

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 37 No. 5, 2024

pp. 613-629

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-07-2023-0230

However, little is known in the public school sector about which factors influence the

reaction to change of the agents concerned and thus their RFC (Oreg et al., 2018;Winter et al.,

2022). The few studies that have examined the issue show that factors at the individual level,

such as job satisfaction, play a central role in the RFC of teachers (Kondakci et al., 2017).

We also know that the teaching profession is highly stressful due to its specific demand

structure. This is characterized by the emotional and relational demands of working with

pupils, but also by structural conditions such as working time regulations, which differ

significantly from those of other professional groups in the public sector (Allen et al., 2020).

This stress is further intensified by organizational change. However, it is unclear how the

stress level induced by change processes influences teachers’RFC. Furthermore, little is

known about the interaction of individual and contextual factors and their influence on

employee RFC (Sverdlik and Oreg, 2022).

Therefore, this studyexamines the following research question:

RQ1. How do work characteristics at the individual and organizational levels influence

teachers’readiness for change with regard to the implementation of public school

reforms?

The focus on school reform is relevant because schools share important organizational

characteristics with other public sector organizations, making them appropriate topics for

public management (O’Toole and Meier, 2011).

The study is based on the readiness for change (RFC) approach proposed by Armenakis and

Harris (2002). This is in line with our understanding of reforms as triggers that increase stress and

allows us to focus on change readiness components related to the burden on agents concerned.

To examine our research question, we use data from a public school reform implemented

in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland in 2017/18, by the name of “newly defined professional

mandate”(nBA). The nBA aims to align the working conditions of teachers with those of

other administrative employees (Feller et al., 2020). The data set of this reform has a multi-

level structure. The teachers we locate at the individual level are hierarchically nested within

the organizational level, the school units. Therefore, we conducted a quantitative multi-level

research study in which we considered factors from both levels (Hox et al., 2018). This study

contributes to the body of public sector management research in three ways. First, it expands

the understanding in public management research of work characteristics that promote or

reduce the RFC of employees in the public sector. Second, this study operationalizes factors of

organizational change, such as organizational professionalization (OP), by providing

empirical evidence for the proposed relationships. Thus, the paper also contributes to

current discussions regarding the impact of NPM practices (Aoki, 2019). Third, it enriches the

public management literature by combining the RFC approach with the JDR model and

testing for interaction effects based on this. The relevance of the present study arises not only

from this theoretical perspective but also from a practical point of view: it is extremely

pertinent for public managers to know how to overcome the hurdles to reform

implementation without such extreme measures and how to increase employees’RFC.

This article is structured as follows: In the first section, the theoretical framework and

hypotheses are presented. In the following section, the dataset, method of analysis, and measures

are explained. Next, the hypotheses are tested, and the results are described. A discussion of the

major findings follows, including suggestions for future research as well as limitations of the

analysis.

Theoretical framework

Our study utilizes the readiness for change (RFC) approach, positing that readiness

comprises the beliefs, attitudes, and intentions of organizational members about the necessity

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