Understanding Affective Commitment to Change in a Civil Service Context: The Roles of Prosocial Job Design, Organizational Identification, and Involvement Climate

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231211153
• Author: Edel Conway,Yseult Freeney,Kathy Monks,Natasha McDowell
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231211153

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2025, Vol. 45(1) 124 –144

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X231211153

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Article

Understanding Affective

Commitment to Change

in a Civil Service Context:

The Roles of Prosocial Job

Design, Organizational

Identification, and

Involvement Climate

Edel Conway1, Yseult Freeney1, Kathy Monks1,

and Natasha McDowell1

Abstract

Civil service organizations around the world are confronted with a constant need

to change to meet the needs of the public in a more efficient manner. The success

of resultant change initiatives depends on the members of the civil service and,

in particular, their affective commitment to change. In this case study of the Irish

civil service, we examine factors that may foster affective commitment to change,

with a focus on the roles of prosocial impact and organizational identification.

We also consider the perceived involvement climate. Based on extensive survey

data (N = 16,050) collected in the Irish Civil Service, we find that organizational

identification acts as a mediator between prosocial impact and affective commitment

to change and that this mediated relationship is strengthened when there is a strong

involvement climate. Theoretical contributions are discussed along with practical

implications.

Keywords

affective commitment to change, pro-social impact, organizational identification,

participation climate

1Dublin City University Business School, Dublin, Ireland

Corresponding Author:

Kathy Monks, Dublin City University Business School, Dublin, 9, Ireland.

Email: Kathy.monks@dcu.ie

1211153ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X231211153Review of Public Personnel AdministrationConway et al.

research-article2023

Conway et al. 125

Introduction

Civil services worldwide are experiencing continuous change as they grapple with the

ongoing effects of major reform programs and, most recently, the COVID-19 pan-

demic. While change is typically initiated in a top-down manner, its success relies

heavily on the employees who must implement it (Chen et al., 2021). The public

administration literature notes the critical need for change recipients to overcome

resistance behaviors if change initiatives are to succeed (Chen et al., 2021; Hameed

et al., 2019; van der Voet et al., 2016). Affective commitment to change (ACC),

described as “a desire to provide support for the change based on beliefs about its

inherent benefits” (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002, p. 475), is the most powerful predictor

of successful change implementation (Sonenshein & Dholakia, 2012) and is a critical

antecedent of change-related behavior (Ahmad & Cheng, 2018; van der Voet et al.,

2016). One reason ACC is powerful in predicting successful change is the degree of

autonomy employees feel when they commit to change rather than the helplessness

they may feel when coerced or guilted into the change (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002).

ACC is also strongly predictive of active indicators on the part of employees towards

the change, for instance, behavioral support for change in the form of cooperation and

championing behaviors (Bouckenooghe et al., 2015).

While the literature has established the importance of ACC as an antecedent to

change, what predicts ACC remains poorly understood. There is a notable gap in

understanding how and why employees want to commit to organizational change as

opposed to feeling obliged or perceiving that they have no choice. While research on

antecedents has focused on the role of leadership in driving ACC (Ahmad & Cheng,

2018; van der Voet et al., 2016), this is a variable external to the employee and that

does not consider the active processes an employee engages in to develop ACC. Oreg

et al. (2018) observe that research on change has been overly focused on valence, that

is, whether employees hold positive or negative perceptions of the change. This disre-

gards the importance of activation, which Oreg et al. (2018) argue is critical in shaping

change outcomes. For instance, they propose that while viewing change positively is

necessary, it is insufficient in determining change implementation. They suggest that

actions on the part of employees, such as seeking to understand the change, question-

ing the change, and taking action to implement the change, are what is vital to longer

term change success. Thus, understanding the factors that support positive perceptions

of change that are accompanied by active responses to change on the part of employ-

ees warrants further investigation.

While we concur with Oreg et al. (2018) in viewing activation as being of value to

change implementation, our point of departure is the positioning of activation. We

argue that ACC remains the strongest predictor of change implementation for both

theoretical and empirical reasons, but that activation triggers the state of ACC. To

advance our understanding, we consider acts by employees and the organization that

foster ACC. In so doing, we focus on one aspect of the work of civil servants: how they

may make an impact on and form connections with beneficiaries, an activity that is

captured through prosocial impact (Grant et al., 2007).