Leader idea championing for follower readiness to change or not? : a moderated mediation perspective of prosocial sensegiving

Sadarić, Antonio (author), Škerlavaj, Miha (author)

Change agents influence employee attitudes in order for organizations to change. In an effort to unravel this influence mechanism, we examined the change leader-recipient relationship. More specifically, how change leaders’ championing (independent variable) relates to recipients’ readiness to change (dependent variable). Our conceptual model of change leaders’ prosocial sensegiving is based on adult attachment theory operationalized through storytelling. To test our model, we surveyed 164 change recipients undergoing organizational change in various industries. Results confirm the first part of our model: psychological need satisfaction partially mediates the relation between change leaders’ championing and recipients’ readiness to change. In other words, prosocial change leaders act as attachment figures alleviating anxiety caused by ambiguity addressing change recipients’ proximity-seeking behaviour. Despite what has been described in scholarly works, change leaders’ methods of persuasion seem to be a more accurate indicator of recipients’ readiness for change. Part two of our hypothesized model could not be confirmed: moderation effects of leader influence and narrative intelligence could not be confirmed. We conclude that prosocial change leaders’ who demonstrate narrative intelligence use stories to elicit an emotional response from change recipients, effectively increasing their perceived psychological need satisfaction, ultimately affecting their readiness to change.

• Language: English
• Keywords: organization, personnel, restructuring, knowledge transfer, change agents, sensemaking, change, conversations, metaphors, stories, narratives
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 200-227
• Numbering: Vol. 23, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-147273
• UDC: 331.108
• ISSN on article: 1469-7017
• DOI: 10.1080/14697017.2023.2191128
• COBISS.SI-ID: 146630659
• Publication date in RUL: 28.06.2023

SADARIĆ, Antonio and ŠKERLAVAJ, Miha, 2023, Leader idea championing for follower readiness to change or not? : a moderated mediation perspective of prosocial sensegiving. Journal of change management [online]. 2023. Vol. 23, no. 2, p. 200–227. [Accessed 11 April 2025]. DOI 10.1080/14697017.2023.2191128. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=147273

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of change management
• Shortened title: J. chang. manag.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1469-7017
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1662997

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: organizacija, kadri, prestrukturiranje, prenos znanja

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P5-0410
• Name: Digitalizacija kot gonilo trajnostnega razvoja posameznika, organizacij in družbe

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Funding programme: Young researchers