This study falls in the theoretical area, in which the studies of organizational
behavior and organizational change intersect. Most of the earlier research in
organizational change focused on systematic and organizational dimensions of
implementation of change (Oreg et al., 2011). A recent line of research in organizational
change, however, focuses on how the individuals see and react to the organizational
change (Judge, Thoresen, Pucik, & Welbourne, 1999; Oreg et al., 2011). The latter vein
of research is where the science of organizational behavior comes in to shed light on
individuals’ attitude and behavior during the time of change. In this section, the traitactivation
theory rooted in interactionist perspective will be discussed as the overarching
theory of the proposed study, and then the discussion will be followed by a brief review
of the theoretical background for each of the variables of the proposed model. Lastly, a
brief discussion is presented on how the trait-activation theory has provided a platform to
combine the existent theories on antecedents of change-related behaviors.