Business Commons^™

Perception Is Reality: Change Leadership And Work Engagement, Jay L. Caulfield, Anthony Senger

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employee perceptions of change and leadership might impact work engagement following major organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Social media invited US workers recently experiencing major organizational change to anonymously complete a web-based survey requesting qualitative and quantitative responses. Values-based coding and thematic analysis were used to explore qualitative data. Hierarchical and linear regression, and bootstrapped mediation were used to analyze quantitative data.

Findings

Analysis of qualitative data identified employees’ perceptions of ideal change and ideal leadership were well supported in the change leadership literature. Analysis of quantitative data indicated that employee perceptions …