PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

John Dourigan
Industrial/Organizational
June 1995

The Effects of Organizational Change on Professionals’ and Organizationals’ Resistance to
Work Change, Organizational Loss and Commitment Levels

    Eighty-nine full-time employees (29 males and 60 females) of a large public university were surveyed.  They were asked to respond to a questionnaire composed of several measures.  These measures were: Demographics, Trumbo’s Attitude Toward Work scale, Miller and Wagner’s Professional-Organizational Orientation scale, The Dourigan Organizational Loss scale, and the Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, Sowa Survey of Perceived Organizational Support.  A series of t tests was performed.
    The results did not support the hypotheses: (a) that Organizationals were more resistant to work related change than Professionals; (b) that Organizationals would report more of a sense of Loss than Professionals; and (c) that Organizationals would report a lower level of Perceived Organizational Support than Professionals.  Additional analyses related to gender and position held in the organization did show significant differences in regard to Continuance Commitment and Resistance to Work Change.  Reliability and divergent validity were demonstrated with this researcher’s scale of Organizational Loss.

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