Abstract:

Informal information is a crucial component of information communication prior to organizational change. It has potential influences on the decision-making and implementation of organizational change. This research first conceptualizes informal information prior to organizational change. Based on psychological coping mechanism and cognitive restructuring, this research then explores employees’ dynamic adjustment of their cognitive and affective readiness to change when they receive informal information before the implementation of organizational change. Finally, this research examines a process whereby possible decision-making of organizational change moves forward to feedback on informal information, which in turn moves to decision improvement. In the whole process, the initiator of organizational change incrementally optimize their decision-making by obtaining their employees’ cognitive and affective feedback on organizational change. The findings of this research will enrich the literature on organizational change communication and provide managerial implications for organizational change practices in China.

Key words: informal information prior to organizational change, psychological coping, cognitive restructuring, cognitive and affective readiness to organizational change, incremental decision-making