Predictors of cynicism toward change in the public sector: information about change, involvement in change and trust in senior management

As the public sector continues to go through 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, particularly in the public sector environment. In this paper, a model is proposed which identifies three key antecedents of cynicism toward change: change information, involvement in change, 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 exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling suggest that change information, involvement in change processes, and trust in senior management influence cynicism toward change. More specifically, evidence is presented which suggests that involvement in change, communication about change, and trust in senior management directly influence cynicism toward change, and that information about change and involvement in change directly influence trust in senior management. Collectively the antecedent variables accounted for just over fifty 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 attitudes to change in public sector organizations