Social Information During Organizational Change

Organizational change has received growing attention due to the constantly shifting economy and the fast- moving global business environment, yet the significant role of communication for successful change was overlooked in the past. Building on social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978), the new integrated model was developed and field tested. The results from the employees of a public library system that was facing budget cuts showed the significant effect of social information and job positions on individual need for information. In addition, when seeking information during the change, the perceived level of social costs influenced the use of different types of communication networks and communication channels. Further, the results identified the type and source of social information that positively affect employee attitudes about organizational change.