Police Climate in Organisational Change: The relationship between perceived organisational support, readiness to change, and integration in the Norwegian police

The following thesis assessed the relationship between perceived organisational support, readiness to change and integration within and between units of the Norwegian police after a major, impending change process was set in motion and informed of. The data for the analysis was gathered using surveys developed and distributed to three participating police units in the Norwegian police as part of the larger collaboration between the Department of research at the Norwegian Police University College and the research group at Work and Organisational Psychology of the University of Oslo, with a total of 850 usable responses. The analysis of the data was conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM) and included preliminary analysis, validity, reliability and significance testing. The results of the analysis indicated that the concepts of perceived organisational support and external integration are directly related to readiness to change, and that the concepts of internal and external integration are directly related to perceived organizational support. Support was also found for an indirect relationship between perceived organisational change and readiness to change through external integration, supporting earlier findings of the importance of knowledge sharing and trust between formalised groups or units in establishing readiness to change in an organisational context. More research is needed to establish valid causal relations between these, as directionality cannot be reliably established though SEM-analysis alone. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed, as well as implications and recommendation for future research