Change willingness of public sector employees: A survey experiment of meaningfulness and powerfulness

Research has indicated that the perceived meaningfulness and powerfulness of public servants regarding an organizational change initiative are positively related to their willingness to change. In this study, we assess the... [ view full abstract ]

Research has indicated that the perceived meaningfulness and powerfulness of public servants regarding an organizational change initiative are positively related to their willingness to change. In this study, we assess the causal relationships between meaningfulness, powerfulness and willingness to change by means of two survey-experiments among Dutch front-line employees in the civil service and education sectors. In addition, we assess to what extent these relationships are moderated by respondents’ Public Service Motivation and self-regulation. The meaningfulness experiment consists of 974 employees from the civil service sector and 675 education employees. The powerfulness experiment consists of 1069 employees in civil service and 634 employees in education. The results indicate that we succeed in experimentally manipulating powerfulness, but not meaningfulness. In addition, t-test do not establish statistically significant differences in the dependent variable between the experimental groups. A regression analysis that contains dummy variables for the experimental treatments, does provide some support for the study’s central hypotheses. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of next steps for an improved version of the experiment. We would be grateful for any feedback concerning these points.