The influence of human resource practices on employees’ responses towards organizational change in the automotive industry: transformational leadership as a mediator

Abstract

Organizational change, specifically the human dimension of change, is central to the corporate strategy of manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive industry in the 21st century. However, little research was conducted on the relation between commitment-based human resource practices and employees’ responses towards organizational change and future organizational change so far. The present study investigated the effects of commitment-based human resource (HR) practices, transformational leadership, and psychological safety on employees’ responses to organizational change and to future organizational change in the automotive industry. The author hypothesized that commitment-based HR practices are linked to favorable employee responses towards organizational change (1a) and future organizational change (1b); transformational leadership mediates the positive effect of commitment-based HR practices on employees’ change responses (2a) and employees’ responses to future change (2b); psychological safety mediates the positive effect of commitment-based HR practices on employees’ change responses (3a) and employees’ responses to future change (3b); and the positive relation between commitment-based HR practices and employees’ change responses (4a) and employees’ responses to future change (4b) is mediated by both high transformational leadership and high psychological safety (double mediation). 117 participants from different automobile manufacturers in Germany completed a cross-sectional survey. The results revealed a main effect of commitment-based HR practices on employees’ change responses, confirming the hypotheses 1a and 1b. Process analyses showed a full mediation effect of transformational leadership in the relation of commitment-based HR practices and employees’ change responses, confirming hypotheses 2a and 2b. The third hypothesis was not supported, since no full indirect effect of psychological safety in the relation of commitment-based HR practices and employees’ change responses was found. Finally, no serial double mediation effect of transformational leadership and psychological safety in the association of commitment-based HR practices and employees’ change responses was found, disconfirming hypotheses 4a and 4b. Based both on the theories of social exchanges and uncertainty reduction, the findings highlight how commitment-based HR practices contribute to lower change resistance and change disengagement and to higher change acceptance and change proactivity among employees at German automobile manufacturers.Keywords: responses to organizational change, commitment-based HR practices, transformational leadership, psychological safety, automotive industry