Managing Employee Withdrawal During Organizational Change: The Role of Threat Appraisal

This article examines antecedents and consequences of employees’ threat appraisal during organizational change. Positive change orientation and change-related fairness are examined as antecedents of threat appraisal and multiple forms of employee withdrawal as outcomes (intentions to quit, voluntary turnover, and absenteeism). Structural equation results show negative relationships between threat appraisals and positive change orientation (change self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward change, and perceived control of changes) and change-related fairness (distributive, procedural, and interactive). Threat appraisals are positively related to absenteeism and intentions to quit, which predict voluntary turnover. Threat appraisals have differential intervening effects on relationships between the antecedents and outcomes.