Commitment to organisational change in the Kenyan geographical-cultural setting : a mixed methods study of Kenya’s micro and small enterprises

Abstract

This research had twin aims: to discover the conceptual meaning of the construct of commitment to organisational change during significant change in micro- and small enterprises, and to develop corresponding measures of this commitment. This reflects the priority given by current literature to developing a stronger, more precise and clear construct of commitment to organisational change. The construct of commitment to organisational change demonstrates sensitivity to its geographical-cultural context. A majority of extant studies have been conducted in Western or Asian settings and thus it is significant that this research was conducted in Africa (Kenya). The research adopted a qualitative-dominant, sequential research design. Data collected through interviews and participant observation was analysed through iterative coding. Participant review of the researcher’s interpretation was further triangulated by a translation review to ensure accurate observation of linguistic nuance. The findings of the qualitative research formed the basis for developing a quantitative instrument. The qualitative findings provide evidence that employees reject the label of ‘commitment to’ organisational change, preferring to term the construct a ‘passion for’. This reflects important, contextually-rooted beliefs. The ‘passion’ comprises five synergistic elements, demonstrating robust utility in developing construct measures. The quantitative findings indicate that the construct is unidimensional if based on contextually developed measures, but three-dimensional if based on the three-component model. These findings demonstrate that inadequate attention to geographical-cultural factors in measuring commitment to organisational change excludes significant features of the construct, and thus remedies previous theoretical gaps. They refine and provide evidence for the argument that commitment to organisational change is volitional, and detail the factors motivating this affect. The discovery of contextual grounding methodology in this study is novel, demonstrating how extant research concepts may be grounded in nascent contexts. Refining the construct of commitment to organisational change additionally provides a basis for practitioners to develop more appropriate measures of employees’ change commitment, foregrounding compelling arguments for management across cultures to respect cultural variation.