The findings of the multiple regression analyses showed that work relationships
predict strongly attitudes to organizational change indicating the important role of this
factor in a change context. Evidence from the change management literature reports a
link between social support and employee adjustment indicating that a socially
supportive workplace was correlated with lower emotional exhaustion scores (LaRocco
et al., 1980). Similarly, Woodward et al. (1999) indicate that supportive colleagues play
an important role in employees efforts to cope with stress in organizational change,
although Cunningham et al. (2002) report a very limited contribution of job related
interpersonal relationships to prediction of readiness for organizational change.
Individuals with more social support tend to experience higher levels of physical and
mental health during stressful life events (Mallinckrodt and Fretz, 1988). Supportive
and positive work relationships were found to be helpful when individuals attempt to
cope with organizational change (Shaw et al., 1993).