Further investigating the influence of personality in employee response to organisational change: the moderating role of change-related factors

This study investigates factors influencing employees' job satisfaction following an organisational change. Extending previous research on effects of individuals' openness to experience and conscientiousness during organisational change, we posit that aspects of change context, such as the extent to which change impacts the individual worker's job and the extent actions of management are procedurally fair, can account for varying influences of these two global personality traits on employees' job satisfaction following a change. In contrast to earlier studies focusing on change-related effects on task performance, conscientiousness can play a positive role on job satisfaction following a change along with openness to experience. Results of this study confirm that influences of personality on individual reactions to change are complex. While the positive influences of an individual's openness to experience on job satisfaction tend to occur only when fairness associated with change implementation is high, positive influences of conscientiousness are the highest when both procedural fairness is high and the extent of impact on the individual's job is low. Implications of these findings and further research considerations are discussed.