An empirical study of The Relationship between Organizational Climate, Work Engagement and Readiness for Change within the Norwegian Police Service

To meet constant changes in society and societal needs, a national reform is being implemented in the Norwegian Police – causing a comprehensive change process for all involved. Given this major upheaval that is dependent on extensive adaptions from everyone affected – an investigation of antecedents facilitating successful change implementation is highly valuable. This study aims to examine individual readiness for change among the employees, and how it may be affected by organizational climate and of work engagement. More specifically, the study investigates the four climate components as conceptualized by Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983), and their direct effects on change readiness, as well as the indirect effects through work engagement. Based on 13 proposed hypotheses, an analysis using structural equation modelling was performed, on a sample of 850 respondents of the Norwegian Police Service. The findings indicate a positive direct effect of the open systems climate on individual readiness for change. A direct positive relationship was also found between work engagement and individual readiness for change. Finally, the results showed an indirect positive effect of both the human relations climate and the rational goal climate on individual readiness for change, through work engagement as a mediating factor. This study contributes to the existing research field by extending the understanding of individual readiness for change, and by offering insights and broader knowledge of how organizational climate and work engagement might affect change readiness. Lastly, this paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Keywords: Organizational climate; Competing Values Framework; Work Engagement; Individual Readiness for Change; Norwegian Police Organizatio