Overall justice, perceived organizational support and readiness for change: the moderating role of perceived organizational competence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms and the conditions under which experiencing organizational justice fosters employees' readiness for change. First, this study tests the mediating role of perceived organizational support between overall justice and readiness for change. Second, it examines whether perceived organizational competence moderates this indirect positive effect. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from US employees (N = 230) facing organizational change. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test the measurement model. Moderated mediation analyses, based on Hayes' (2013) method, were used to examine the hypotheses. Findings Overall, the findings support the hypotheses. Justice influences readiness for change through perceived organizational support only for employees who perceive their organization as highly competent. Originality/value While a few studies have shown that justice fosters readiness for change, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms and conditions under which justice affects readiness for change. In addition, this research highlights in particular the importance of considering how employees assess the "can do" characteristic of their company in the context of organizational change.