Perceptions of integrity, competence and trust in senior management as determinants of cynicism toward change

As Public Sector organizations continue to undergo transformational change, it is important to identify organizational factors that impact on employee attitudes to change. There is limited empirical evidence about the determinants of cynicism toward change. In this paper, a model is proposed which identifies three key trust-related antecedents of cynicism toward change: perceptions of integrity, competence, and trust in senior management. Data were collected from two Public Sector organizations to identify levels and correlates of cynicism toward change and to test the proposed model. The results of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling suggest that perceptions of integrity and trust in senior management influence cynicism toward change. Integrity, as an element of trustworthiness, was found to directly influence trust in senior management as well as cynicism toward change. Contrary to expectations, employee perceptions of the competence of senior management did not to have a direct influence on trust nor on cynicism toward change. Collectively the antecedent variables accounted for approximately forty percent of the variance in cynicism toward change. In general terms, the findings will prove helpful to human resource practitioners interested in diagnosing and managing organizational trust and attitudes toward organizational change.