Personal and Organizational Structure Correlates of Receptivity and Resistance to Change and Effectiveness in Institutions of Higher Education.

The purpose of this exploratory study was three-fold. First, a conceptual framework was developed to link innovation and organizational effectiveness in higher education settings through the mediating variables of faculty decision-making deprivation, self-efficacy, organizational efficacy, receptivity to change and resistance to change. Second, original instrumentation was developed to measure faculty receptivity and resistance to change and academic unit head perspectives of their unit\u27s effectiveness. Third, linkages between the variables were examined through the collection and analysis of data using structure equation modeling and appropriate variable comparisons. The sample consisted of all faculty from five traditional academic units at all 59 Carnegie Public Research Universities I in the United States. Psychology, Sociology, Political Science and two academic units within each College of Education were selected for inclusion in the study. Useable data were received from 799 faculty and 79 academic unit heads representing 103 academic units in 53 universities. Six measures were used: (1) the Inventory of Receptivity to Change in Higher Education (Clarke, Ellett & Rugutt, 1995); (2) the Faculty Resistance to Change Inventory developed specifically for this study; (3) the Faculty Self and Organizational Efficacy Assessment adapted from previous measures (Loup & Ellett, 1993); (4) the Faculty Decision-Making Deprivation Scale as modified from the School Decisional Participation Scale (Alutto & Belasco, 1973); (5) a slightly modified version of the Index of Perceived Organizational Effectiveness (Miskel et al., 1979; Mott, 1972); and (6) the Higher Education Index of Departmental Effectiveness developed specifically for this study. Major findings of the study showed that: (1) receptivity and resistance to change are not mirror images of one another, (2) faculty efficacy relative to accomplishing teaching, research and service goals is more directly linked to organizational effectiveness than are other faculty personal and organizational variables, (3) faculty and academic unit heads perspectives about organizational effectiveness differ, and (4) there are meaningful relationships among the study variables from both the faculty and academic unit head perspectives. Major findings and conclusions of the study are discussed in view of their implications for future research, theory development and practice