Interplay of Change Climate and Participation in the Change Process and its Effect on Explicit Reactions and Consequences: Revolution in Pakistani Banks

Abstract

In today’s competitive environment, organizational change is crucial for survival. Despite its necessity, the majority of change initiatives fail. This negatively affects employee morale and commitment. This research investigates key factors that facilitate successful change implementation, focusing specifically on the impact of change climate and participation in the change process. It examines how these variables influence affective commitment to change, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment while implementing a high-paced and high-pressured strategic change, namely revolution. Grounded in Theory E, variance theory, and change management theory, the study develops a conceptual model and adopts a deductive, exploratory design within a positivist framework. The Pakistani banking sector serves as the research context, using multi-stage sampling and a structured questionnaire for data collection. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via SmartPLS is employed for analysis. The findings reveal that a supportive change climate and active participation in the change process significantly enhance affective commitment to change, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, contributing to the effective implementation of revolution. This research adds to the mainly western-centered literature by offering insights from Pakistan, a developing economy. The study’s exclusive focus on ‘revolution’ as a strategic change highlights its novelty, though suggesting that other types of strategic change warrant further exploration.