Champions, Converts, Doubters, and Defectors: The Impact of Shifting Perceptions on Momentum for Change

Maintaining momentum is a key influence on the ultimate success of large‐scale change. In this paper, we develop theory to explain how stable versus shifting change‐supportive perceptions over time differentially influence the perceived momentum associated with goal‐directed change (i.e., change‐bas...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personnel psychology 2016-09, Vol.69 (3), p.673-707
Main Authors: Jansen, Karen J., Shipp, Abbie J., Michael, Judd H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Organizational change
Political asylum
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Maintaining momentum is a key influence on the ultimate success of large‐scale change. In this paper, we develop theory to explain how stable versus shifting change‐supportive perceptions over time differentially influence the perceived momentum associated with goal‐directed change (i.e., change‐based momentum). We use cross‐level polynomial regression and data obtained early and 1 year later within an organization implementing a lean manufacturing transformation to model changes in individual perceptions. Results suggest that momentum perceptions are higher for “Champions” (stable and high perceptions over time) as compared to “Converts” (increasing perceptions over time), but momentum perceptions are lower for “Defectors” (decreasing perceptions over time) as compared to “Doubters” (stable and low perceptions over time). We find that even if participants converge upon change‐supportive perceptions later in the change process, early divergent perceptions influence subsequent momentum for the change. These findings highlight the important role of temporal shifts in perceptions for organizational change processes.
ISSN:0031-5826
1744-6570
DOI:10.1111/peps.12120