An Empirical Evaluation of the Relationship Between Human Relations Climate and Readiness for Change

Abstract

Readiness for change is seen as an important factor in organisational change processes, but it is unclear how organisational climate might affect readiness for change. Addressing this important gap, the purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between human relations climate, a dimension of the Quinn and Rohrbaugh’s competing values framework of organizational climate, and readiness for change. More specifically the aim was to investigate the mediating role of perceived organisational support. Employees in the Norwegian Police Service (N = 901) answered a survey measuring organisational culture. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Following a two-step analytical approach, the measurement models were first evaluated and then the relationships between constructs were examined. Evaluations of the original measurement models showed non-satisfactory fit, however after modifications, the measurement models were found to have satisfactory fit. In the second step, both the original and the modified measurement models were applied to the examination of three competing models: a partially mediated model, a fully mediated model, and a non-mediated model. Evaluation of the models showed fully mediated models (original and modified) to have the best fit to data, suggesting that the relationship between human relations organisational climate and employees’ readiness for change is mediated by perceived organisational support. The finding adds theoretically to literature on organisational climate, highlighting the role of perceived organisational support. From an applied perspective actions fostering human relations climate to strengthen perceived organisational support are recommended.

Keywords

• competing values framework
• human relations climate
• readiness for change
• perceived organisational support
• police organisation