Relationship Between Psychological Factors and Resistance to Change Among Employees of Private Hospitals in the Upper Northern Region of Thailand

Abstract

This study was aimed to study relationship between psychological factors and resistance to change among employees of private hospitals in the Upper Northern Region of Thailand. The respondents were 313 employees of private hospitals in the Upper Northern Region. Stratified random sampling method was used. Statistical techniques used included frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation. Research findings were as followed. 1) Regarding psychological factors affecting perceived organization support among employees of private hospitals in the Upper Northern Region, commitments were perceived more than justice. The top three commitment items were affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuous commitment. The justice items were interactive justice, procedural justice, and distributive justice. 2) Overall, the level of resistance to change was high. Routine seeking had the highest average rating. Short-term focus, emotional reaction to imposed change and cognitive rigidity were highly rated. 3) Hypothesis testing was as followed. Psychological factors had negative relationship with resistance to change with low correlation coefficient at 0.01 significance level. Specifically, organizational justice and commitment were lowly correlated to resistance to change. However, although the commitment and justice in the organization is an important component of the organization’s operations in a state of effective change, the two variables have a low level of relationship with the change of nurse in private hospital.