Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2006
Abstract
Organizations are challenged to attract and retain executives who can lead successful and sustainable organizational change. This study aims to: (1) explore the role of bonding social capital in affecting the turnover intention of executive leaders of large scale radical and continuous improvement change projects in organizations\, and (2) identify mechanisms which may influence whether change leaders can balance the potentially competing commitment to a career of leading change with a commitment to an organization\, therein affecting the organization’s ability to retain them longer term. This study of over 600 change leaders from for-profit\, non-profit and civil service organizations draws distinctions between Insiders and Outsiders\, and develops an instrument for bonding social capital that is generalizable to contexts with the individual as the unit of analysis. Our findings indicate that bonding social capital and perceived organizational support appear to play primary roles in the turnover intention of Outsiders. This differs from Insiders who appear to be affected by their identification with the organization and perceived organizational support\, influencing organizational commitment\, leading to mitigation of turnover intention. Unlike for Insiders\, we found the extent to which an Outsider is committed to a career of leading change can negatively influence his intention to remain with the firm. We caution organizations who hire Outsiders to lead change projects to continue to “use them\, love them or lose them” as leaders of challenging change initiatives\, and not assume that Outsiders will become committed to the organization and become Insiders.,Doctorate of Management Programs
Keywords
Organizational change--Management, Leadership
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Larsen, Zara F., "Change Leader Retention: Social Capital\, Organizational Commitment and Balancing Change Career Commitment" (2006). Student Scholarship. 623.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/623