Perceived human resource system strength and employee reactions toward change: Revisiting human resource's remit as change agent

• Published date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21948
• Author: Amanda D. Shantz,Edel Conway,Catherine Bailey,Kerstin Alfes,Kathy Monks,Na Fu
• Date: 01 May 2019

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Perceived human resource system strength and employee

reactions toward change: Revisiting human resource's remit as

change agent

Kerstin Alfes

1

| Amanda D. Shantz

2

| Catherine Bailey

3

| Edel Conway

4

|

Kathy Monks

4

|NaFu

2

1

ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin,

Chair of Organisation and Human Resource

Management, Berlin, Germany

2

Trinity Business School, Trinity College

Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

3

King's Business School, King's College

London, London, UK

4

DCU Business School, Dublin City University,

Dublin, Ireland

Correspondence

Kerstin Alfes, ESCP Europe

Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin, Chair of

Organisation and Human Resource

Management, Heubnerweg 8-10, Berlin

14059, Germany

Email: kalfes@escpeurope.eu

Although scholars have highlighted human resource’s (HR’s) important role as a change agent,

we know little about the extent to which HR influences the change context to foster positive

employee responses and support organizational changes. This study positions perceived HR sys-

tem strength as an important internal context factor that influences employees' reactions

toward change. Drawing on emotion theory and social exchange theory, we analyze the mecha-

nisms through which employees' perceptions of HR system strength lead to positive employee

responses to organizational change. Data from 704 employees in a UK police force showed that

employees' perceptions of HR system strength were positively related to their ability to cope

with organizational change and that this relationship was simultaneously mediated by state posi-

tive affect and perceived organizational support. Moreover, our findings demonstrated that cop-

ing with organizational change was positively related to employees' change-supportive

behavior. This study is important because it broadens the remit of HR's role as change agent

and provides valuable insight into how HR positively influences employee outcomes during

organizational change.

KEYWORDS

change agent role, change-supportive behavior, police force, coping with organizational

change, HR system strength, perceived organizational support, state positive affect

1|INTRODUCTION

Over 20 years ago, human resource (HR) professionals were chal-

lenged with a new mandate to become change agents (Storey, 1992;

Ulrich, 1997). Since then, research has focused on different ways

through which HR assumes this role to facilitate successful organiza-

tional change and contribute to sustained organizational performance

(Alfes, Truss, & Gill, 2010; Long, Wan Ismail, & Amin, 2013). Specifi-

cally, studies have suggested that HR plays an important role in man-

aging the content and the implementation of change (Alfes et al.,

2010). The former involves changes in HR practices to foster positive

employee reactions to the change, whereas the latter relates to HR

activities aimed at generating employee support throughout the vari-

ous stages of the change.

Although this body of research has brought us a long way in

understanding how HR can contribute toward organizational change,

one aspect that has largely been ignored is HR's role in managing the

change context, that is, the internal or external circumstances that

influence change effectiveness (Herold, Fedor, & Caldwell, 2007; Raff-

erty & Restubog, 2017; Self, Armenakis, & Schraeder, 2007). The lack

of understanding of the change context is an important omission as

recent studies suggest that, aside from change content and change

implementation, the change context is a key factor influencing

employee reactions toward change and is therefore a crucial determi-

nant that influences whether change programs can be completed suc-

cessfully (Choi, 2011; Rafferty & Restubog, 2017). Hence,

understanding ways through which HR provides a context to orches-

trate change is therefore of relevance for HR scholars and

practitioners.

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21948

Hum Resour Manage. 2019;58:239–252. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 239