Rumors during organizational change: A motivational analysis

Rumors play an important role in most, if not all, aspects of employee experience and responses to organizational change (DiFonzo and Bordia, 2006, 2007a). Take the example of readiness for change, a vital precursor to successful implementation of change (Jones, Jimmieson, and Griffiths, 2005). Readiness for change comprises employees’ acceptance of the need for change and confidence (or efficacy) in their ability to carry out tasks needed for the change (Armenakis, Harris, and Mossholder, 1993). Rumors that allege illegitimate motivations for change can undermine the need for change. Similarly, rumors that allege incompetence-of-change managers can undermine efficacy beliefs. Because they materially affect the construction of the social reality of any organizational change, rumors are critically important aspects of change. The aim of this chapter is to review the psychological research on rumors and apply it to the context of organizational change using a motivational framework to explain why rumors arise and spread during organizational change. A motivational framework has several advantages: first, it draws attention to the functional nature of rumors – that is, rumors spread because they fulfill certain psychological needs; second, the motivational approach provides an integrative framework for the variety of variables affecting rumor spread that have been identified in the literature (such as uncertainty, anxiety, outcome-relevant involvement, and belief in the rumor; Rosnow, 1991) and draws attention to as yet unexamined variables, such as threat to psychological esteem; third, our framework shows how the psychological experience of change triggers the motivations responsible for rumors, therefore the motivational approach helps us explicitly link organizational change and rumors; finally, a motivational approach offers insights into the management of rumors during change – effective management of rumors requires addressing the underlying motivations in rumor spread.