leader-member exchange, resistance to change, emotional

Master thesis Human Resource Studies

How employees regulate their emotions during change:

Leader-member exchange, resistance to change, emotional exhaustion

and the mediating role of emotion regulation strategies

Author: Susanne van de Kop (346817)

Master Thesis Human Resource Studies

Tilburg University

Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Supervisor: Dr. K. van Dam

Second assessor: Dr. R. Schalk

Project theme: Emotion regulation

Project period: January 2014 – August 2014

LMX, EMOTION REGULATION STRATEGIES AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES 2

Abstract

This study examines the mediating effect of reappraisal and rumination on the

relationships between Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and the employee outcomes resistance

to change and emotional exhaustion in an organizational change setting. Previous research has

indicated that LMX influences employees’ resistance to change and emotional exhaustion. Less

attention has been paid to emotion regulation, which is actually an important factor because

emotion regulation influences the way employees respond to perceived challenges and

opportunities, such as organizational changes. This study has a longitudinal character since data

was gathered two times in nine organizations in different industries, with a total response of N =

111. The results partly supported the conceptual model, showing that the relationship of LMX

with resistance to change and emotional exhaustion was partially mediated by reappraisal. As

expected, reappraisal was negatively related to resistance to change and emotional exhaustion.

For the mediating effect of rumination no significant relationships were found. Overall, this study

contributes to the understanding of the role of emotion regulation strategies during organizational

change and shows the importance of the quality of LMX relationships on resistance to change

and emotional exhaustion.

Keywords: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), resistance to change, emotional exhaustion,

reappraisal, rumination, emotion regulation.


Introduction

Past research has shown that leaders can have a strong influence on their followers’

behavior and attitudes (Van Dam, Oreg & Schyns, 2008). This relationship is often referred to as

the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationship, which represents the relationship between

supervisor and subordinate over time (Gerstner & Day, 1997; Liden & Maslyn, 1998). LMX is

positively related to several work outcomes such as organizational commitment, satisfaction with

supervision and autonomy (Gerstner & Day, 1997; Van Dam et al., 2008). LMX is also

emphasized in organizational change models, as these models emphasize the need for leadership

in implementing and supporting a change (Whelan-Berry, Gordon & Hinings, 2003). Apparently,

many organizational change programs fail due to employees’ resistance to change, which is

caused by management who neglect the human dimension during change (Bovey & Hede, 2001).

The quality of LMX relationships can influence employees’ resistance to the change (Van Dam et

al., 2008). Resistance to change is an important element during organizational changes as it has

consequences such as lower employee satisfaction, productivity, well-being and higher

absenteeism and turnover (Van Dam et al., 2008). LMX is also positively related to employee

well-being (Sparr & Sonnentag, 2008; Hetland, Sandal & Johnsen, 2007). During organizational

change one of the most negative experienced effects is a decreased well-being of employees,

which expresses itself in higher emotional exhaustion and other stress symptoms (Bordia, Hunt,

Paulsen, Tourish & DiFonzo, 2004; Paulsen et al., 2005).

In the past much research has been done on organizational change, for example how

employees deal with organizational change and handle uncertainty (e.g. Furst & Cable, 2008;

Fugate, Kinicke & Scheck, 2002; Bordia et al., 2004). Less attention is paid to employees’

emotions and how employees regulate their emotions during organizational change. Emotion

regulation is important in change situations because the way people regulate their emotions

influences the way how they respond to perceived challenges and opportunities, such as

organizational changes (Gross, 2002). How employees deal with their emotions and which

emotion regulation strategies they use, is often studied in an experimental research setting

(Richards & Gross, 2000). There is little research attention for emotion regulation during

organizational change.

The goal of this study is to examine if emotion regulation strategies mediate the

relationships between LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and emotional


exhaustion. By combining organizational change and emotion regulation strategies, this study

tries to provide more insight in emotion regulation strategies and their mediating role in the

relationship between LMX - resistance to change and LMX - emotional exhaustion. Previous

literature indicate that there is more research needed in the supervisor- subordinate relationship

and emotion regulation at work (Glasø & Einarsen, 2008). This longitudinal study design

overcomes shortcomings from cross-sectional research such as common method bias and

therefore contributes to the scientific literature. Furthermore, this study can be relevant for

organizations which are implementing a change. Resistance to change and emotional exhaustion

can hinder the success of the organizational change, so knowing how people regulate their

emotions can help organizations and HR practitioners to anticipate on the consequences of

supervisor – subordinate relationships.

For this study the following research question is formulated:

To what extent is the leader-member exchange relationship related to resistance to change and

emotional exhaustion, and to what extent are these relationships mediated by emotion regulation

strategies?

In Figure 1 the conceptual model is presented.

LMX

Reappraisal

Rumination

Resistance to

change

Emotional

exhaustion

Figure 1. Conceptual model


Theoretical framework

LMX and employee outcomes

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) represents the exchange relationship between

supervisor and subordinate over time. LMX theory (Gerstner & Day, 1997) suggests that

supervisors develop different and unique relationships with their subordinates over time, instead

of using one style to deal with all their subordinates (Liden & Maslyn, 1998). Previous research

showed that LMX relationships are related to work outcomes, such as satisfaction with work and

supervisor, organizational commitment, performance, organizational citizenship behavior and

autonomy (Gerstner & Day, 1997; Liden & Maslyn, 1998).

According to LMX theory, supervisors and subordinates build their exchange relationship

through a role-making process. Supervisor and subordinates have certain role expectations and

during the role-making process they test each other on these role expectations. When these

expectations are met, they are likely to develop a high quality LMX relationship (Xu, Huang,

Lam & Miao, 2012). A high quality LMX relationship is characterized by a reciprocal exchange

in which one member gets something favourable from the other member and in return comes up

with something favourable for the other member (Sparr & Sonnentag, 2008). High quality LMX

relationships are characterized by high levels of trust, support, formal and informal rewards in

comparison to low quality LMX relationships. For example, in times of organizational change,

supervisors in high quality LMX relationships provide their subordinates with more information

and opportunities to participate. Subsequently, these employees receive more information about

the organizational change and have more opportunities to participate, whereby they build more

trust in the management, compared with employees in low quality LMX relationships. Therefore,

employees in high quality LMX relationships will develop less resistance to change, compared to

employees in low LMX relationships (Van Dam et al., 2008). Because LMX relationships are

reciprocal, it can also be expected that employees in high LMX relationships are more willing to

cooperate in organizational change than employees in low LMX relationships. Therefore the

following hypothesis is formulated:

Hypothesis 1a: Leader-member exchange is negatively related to resistance to change.

During organizational change one of the most negative, experienced effect is a decreased

well-being of employees, which expresses itself in higher emotional exhaustion and other stress


symptoms (Bordia et al., 2004; Paulsen et al., 2005). Emotional exhaustion is the biggest facet of

burnout (and thus part of well-being), which refers to feelings of being overextended and

depleted of one’s emotional and physical resources (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001). When

people think they are experiencing a burnout, they often experience emotional exhaustion

(Maslach et al., 2001). Emotional exhaustion is likely to occur when negative feelings in the

workplace need to be regulated (Grandey, Kern & Frone, 2007).

Previous research indicated that the workplace factors personal control and job

uncertainty influence employees’ emotional exhaustion level, but that other workplace factors

may also play a role (Paulsen et al., 2005). LMX can be one of the factors that may influence

employees’ emotional exhaustion. When the LMX relationship between supervisor and

subordinate has a low quality, role expectations are not met and the subordinate will not receive

high levels of trust, support and rewards from the supervisor. These poor LMX relationships can

contain interpersonal conflicts and can affect employees’ feelings, self-esteem and self-efficacy

(Xu et al., 2012). Previous research has shown that these poor, abuse supervisor – subordinate

relationships are related to multiple negative psychological, emotional and attitudinal outcomes

like decreased self-efficacy and heightened emotional exhaustion (Duffy, Ganster & Pagon,

2002; Grandey et al., 2007). It is therefore expected that subordinates in high quality LMX

relationships will experience less emotional exhaustion than employees in low quality LMX

relationships. Therefore the following hypothesis is stated:

Hypothesis 1b: Leader-member exchange is negatively related to emotional exhaustion.

Emotion regulation strategies

It appears that the quality of LMX relationships can influence employees’ resistance to

change and emotional exhaustion. These relationships can be influenced by how employees

handle their emotions, which in turn will affect their resistance to change and emotional

exhaustion. So the relationships between LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and

emotional exhaustion can be further explained by examining emotion regulation strategies.

Emotion regulation is defined by Gross (1998, p. 275) as ‘the processes by which

individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience

and express these emotions’. The regulation of emotions can be automatic or controlled and can

happen conscious or unconscious. Emotions are reactions to events, which are evaluated by


individuals according to their perceived personal significance, such as personal goals and well-

being (Kiefer, 2005). Emotion regulation strategies are therefore aimed at influencing people’s

emotions and can help employees adapt to challenging work situations (Van Dam, 2013). Gross

(1998) made a distinction between antecedent-focused emotion regulation and response-focused

emotion regulation. With antecedent-focused emotion regulation strategies the emotion is being

regulated before the emotion is fully occurred. An example is seeing a job interview as an

opportunity to learn about the organization instead of a pass-fail test (Gross, 2002). When using

response-focused emotion regulation strategies the emotion is regulated when the emotion has

already occurred. An example is not showing anxiety when you are leaving your child at the

kindergarten for the first time (Gross, 1998). In this study two antecedent-focused emotion

regulation strategies will be investigated, namely reappraisal and rumination.

Reappraisal – Reappraisal is used in everyday life and appears to be a useful emotion

regulation strategy (McRae, Jacobs, Ray, John & Gross, 2012). Reappraisal is a form of the

cognitive change emotion regulation strategy (Gross, 1998). When employees use reappraisal as

emotion regulation strategy they change the way they think about a situation in order to control

and decrease its emotional impact; they give a certain meaning to a situation (Gross, 2002).

Reappraisal is often used to decrease the emotional response, but it can also be used to intensify

the emotional reaction or to change the emotion itself. An example is turning anger into

disappointment. The meaning people give to a situation is important, because it has a strong

influence on the psychological and behavioral response (Gross, 2002). An employee can, for

example, reappraise the organizational change situation and try to see the more positive sides of

the change instead of only seeing the negative sides. Subsequently, when employees reappraise a

situation they have less negative emotions and show less negative expressive behavior, while

they increase positive emotions and positive emotion expression (Gross, 2002). This reappraisal

strategy is an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, which includes the use of humor and

anticipation (McRae et al., 2012; Mikolajczak, Nelis, Hansenne & Quoidbach, 2008).

Rumination – Rumination is part of the attentional deployment emotion regulation

strategy. When the rumination strategy is used, attention is directed to (often negative) feelings

and their consequences, for example: people think ‘I feel so miserable, I cannot concentrate’

(Gross, 1998). People use this emotion regulation strategy because they see this strategy as a

problem-solving strategy (Leahy, 2007). However, consequences of rumination are increased


negative feelings, which strengthen negative cognitions whereby negative emotions are

maintained (Leahy, 2007). In case of an organizational change, employees would focus their

attention on the negative sides of the change, thereby negative thoughts about the change and

negative emotions are maintained. Because negative emotions are maintained, rumination

reduces the possibility to experience enjoyable situations. Furthermore, this emotion regulation

strategy can lead to longer and more depressive symptoms (Leahy, 2007; Just & Alloy, 1997).

Rumination however, can be reduced when people who ruminate find other people who ruminate.

They identify themselves with those people because they share the same feelings, which makes

their feelings understandable and rumination is therefore not further necessary (Leahy, 2007).

Overall, rumination appears to be a negative emotion regulation strategy, which is also referred to

as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy (Mikolajczak et al., 2008).

Because LMX relationships are coloured by emotions, it is expected that employees use

emotion regulating strategies to regulate their emotions in the relationship with their supervisor

(Glasø & Einarsen, 2006). Because emotions can influence behavior in both positive and negative

ways, good leaders should manage their own emotions, but also influence the emotional states of

their subordinates (Fisk & Friesen, 2012). This is confirmed by Graen and Uhl Bien (1995), who

state that reciprocate relationships between supervisors and subordinates are not only

behaviorally, but also emotionally. The study of Glasø and Einarsen (2008) also indicates that

supervisors and subordinates express, suppress or fake their emotions. These findings imply that

leaders can influence employees’ emotions and vice versa, which indicate that emotion regulation

is an element of LMX relationships. An advantage of emotion regulation in LMX relationships is

that the interaction between supervisor and subordinates becomes more predictable, and thereby

reducing the uncertainty at work (Glasø & Einarsen, 2008). When uncertainty at work is reduced,

it is likely that there will be less rumination, because people have less to worry about.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous section, subordinates in high quality relationships are

provided with more information and opportunities to participate in times of organizational

change, compared to subordinates in low quality LMX relationships. It is therefore likely that the

subordinates in high quality LMX relationships reappraise more and ruminate less, because of

their good quality relationship with their supervisor. Subordinates in low quality LMX

relationships on the other hand, will probably reappraise less and ruminate more because they do


not receive so much information about the change and opportunities to participate. Overall, this

indicates that the quality of LMX relationships can influence the emotion regulation strategies

employees use. However, research about the relationship between LMX and emotion regulation

is limited (Glasø & Einarsen, 2008). In this study we will examine the association between LMX

and emotion regulation in more detail. We expect that the quality of LMX relationships have an

influence on both reappraisal and rumination. Therefore, the following hypotheses are

formulated:

Hypothesis 2a: Leader-member exchange is positively related to reappraisal.

Hypothesis 2b: Leader-member exchange is negatively related to rumination.

As mentioned above, reappraisal is an adaptive emotion regulation strategy which

includes humor and anticipation (McRae et al., 2001; Mikolajczak et al., 2008). Employees who

use adaptive emotion regulation strategies show higher levels support for organizational changes

(Bovey & Hede, 2001). This is supported by the study of Visser and Van Dam (2014), who found

that employees who reappraise change situations are more open to change, whereby it leads to

less resistance to change. Previous research has also shown that the use of adaptive emotion

regulation strategies and thus reappraisal, leads to less resistance to change (Bovey & Hede,

2001). Reappraisal is therefore an important predictor of resistance to change (Visser & Van

Dam, 2014). The following hypothesis is therefore formulated:

Hypothesis 3a: Reappraisal is negatively related to resistance to change.

The way employees regulate their emotions is linked with their well-being (Gross, 2002).

The emotion regulation strategy reappraisal leads to greater experience of positive emotions,

closer social relationships, more satisfaction with life and optimism (Gross, Richards & John,

2006). Previous research has also shown that people who reappraise have a better well-being,

which expresses itself in higher levels of personal growth, self-acceptance and a clearer purpose

in life (Gross & John, 2003). This is confirmed by other studies who also found a relationship

between reappraisal and well-being (Gross et al., 2006; McRae et al., 2012; Mikolajczak et al.,

2008). So not only leads reappraisal to less resistance to change, but it also appears to be

positively related to employees’ well-being. That reappraisal leads to a better well-being is

probably a result of the cognitive change people make, whereby positive emotions and positive


emotion expression increases (Gross, 2002). People who reappraise are more likely to have a

positive way of life which can benefit a person’s well-being. Because previous studies have

shown that reappraisal is positively related to employee well-being, it is expected that reappraisal

is also related to emotional exhaustion, since emotional exhaustion is a facet of well-being (Gross

et al., 2006; McRae et al., 2012; Mikolajczak et al., 2008). Therefore, the following hypothesis is

stated:

Hypothesis 3b: Reappraisal is negatively related to emotional exhaustion.

Rumination is, as mentioned above, a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy which is

often associated with negative outcomes (Mikolajczak et al., 2008). People who use maladaptive

emotion regulation strategies are less open for organizational changes (Bovey & Hede, 2001).

Organizational changes are emotional processes which are often associated with negative

reactions to change, which can result in resistance to the change. Previous research (Kiefer, 2005)

has also shown that how more changes an employee experiences at work, the more negative

emotions the individual will have. It is likely that these negative emotions during changes are

regulated via the rumination strategy. Other studies have also shown that the use of maladaptive

emotion regulation strategies, like denial, dissociation, isolation of affect, projection and acting

out, are positively related to resistance to change (Bovey & Hede, 2001; Visser & Van Dam,

2014). When employees use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies like rumination, it is

expected that they will have more resistance to change. Therefore, the following hypothesis is

stated:

Hypothesis 3c: Rumination is positively related to resistance to change.

Multiple studies have shown that people who ruminate have depressive symptoms and a

negative, sad mood (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1993; Raes, 2010; Leahy, 2007; Just & Alloy,

1997). People who ruminate can also have problems with anxiety, depression, negative affect and

can develop mental and physical disorders which are negatively related to the overall quality of

life (Harrington & Loffredo, 2010). It is therefore likely that rumination has a negative effect on

employees’ well-being. The study of Harrington and Loffredo (2010) has indeed shown that

rumination is negatively related to well-being. Similarly, Ciarrochi and Scott (2006) found in

their cross-sectional research that rumination was strongly correlated with well-being and in their


longitudinal study they also found rumination significantly predicting well-being. As mentioned

before, in this study it is assumed that emotional exhaustion is a facet of well-being and therefore

it is expected that rumination is related to emotional exhaustion. This expectation is based on the

literature which showed that rumination is related with depression, negative moods and well-

being (Harrington & Loffredo, 2010; Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1993; Raes, 2010; Leahy,

2007; Just & Alloy, 1997). The following hypothesis is stated:

Hypothesis 3d: Rumination is positively related to emotional exhaustion.

Emotion regulation strategies as mediators

According to Affective Events Theory (AET), emotions mediate the process between

affective events and the behavioral actions that follow (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). In an

organizational context this means that an affective work event can cause affective responses at

work from employees. Translated to this study, LMX relationships serve as affective events,

causing emotions that need to be regulated, which in the end affects outcomes like employees’

resistance to change and emotional exhaustion. Besides AET theory there are studies that support

this mediation effect. Visser and Van Dam (2014) studied the relationship between perceived

organizational justice, emotion regulation strategies and resistance to change and found a

significant mediation effect for reappraisal and rumination. Another study (Karreman &

Vingerhoets, 2012) found support for the mediating effect of reappraisal in the relationship

between attachment styles and well-being. As previously mentioned, emotional exhaustion is a

facet of well-being and it is therefore expected that this finding also holds for emotional

exhaustion. There is limited research about LMX and emotion regulation, but evidence is found

to expect that LMX is related to emotion regulation strategies and that emotion regulation

strategies are related to resistance to change and emotional exhaustion (Glasø & Einarsen, 2008;

Bovey & Hede, 2001; Visser & Van Dam, 2014; Harrington and Loffredo, 2010; Ciarrochi &

Scott, 2006). However, the relationship between LMX, emotion regulation strategies, resistance

to change and emotional exhaustion is very complex and depends on the context. It is therefore

unlikely that reappraisal and rumination fully mediate the LMX – resistance to change and LMX

- emotional exhaustion relationships. In this study it is therefore expected that the relationships

between LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and emotional exhaustion are partially

mediated by reappraisal and rumination. Therefore the following hypotheses are formulated:


Hypothesis 4a: The relationship between leader-member exchange and resistance to

change is partially mediated by reappraisal.

Hypothesis 4b: The relationship between leader-member exchange and resistance to

change is partially mediated by rumination.

Hypothesis 4c: The relationship between leader-member exchange and emotional

exhaustion is partially mediated by reappraisal.

Hypothesis 4d: The relationship between leader-member exchange and emotional

exhaustion is partially mediated by rumination.

Method

Procedure

Data was collected in nine organizations in different industries. The organizations that

participated in this study were Rabobank Zuid-Holland Midden, Itho Daalderop, municipality

Oss, National Police Corps, DONG Energy, Capgemini, Viecuri, Open University and one

insurance company who preferred to stay anonymous. Most organizations were in the middle of

an organizational change process (T1 = 79.3% and T2 = 73.9%) and their biggest motivation to

participate in this study was to know how their employees experience organizational changes.

Rabobank Zuid-Holland Midden is an independent local bank, which falls under the

Rabobank Group. Itho Daalderop develops and produces innovative solutions for a comfortable

indoor climate and Capgemini is an international provider of consulting, technology and

outsourcing services. Rabobank Zuid-Holland Midden, Itho Daalderop and Capgemini went

through a reorganization whereby less jobs became available and people had to be laid off.

Viecuri is a medical center which went through a restructuring whereby people had to be laid off.

DONG Energy is an international energy supplier which also had to lay people off because of a

takeover. The National Police Corps is a part of the government and is responsible for specialized

missions. The change within The National Police Corps was a reduction of the workforce.

Municipality Oss had to implement a new way of working because of law that was changed. The

Open University went through a reorganization whereby a new working structure was

implemented. Because of this change less jobs were available and people had to be laid off. The

insurance company also had to lay people off.


The researchers contacted their network (convenience sampling) to find organizations

who were willing to participate. These organizations were approached via e-mail, telephone

contact, LinkedIn and personal contact. There also have been visits to organizations when there

were questions about the study. When organizations gave their permission to conduct the study,

employees were invited by e-mail to fill out an online questionnaire. A cover letter was included,

emphasizing that participation was voluntary and that anonymity and confidentiality were

assured. The cover letter also included a description of the goals and topic of the study. For the

second data gathering in May, this procedure was repeated. Furthermore, to increase the response

rate a reminder was sent to all employees during the data collection periods.

Data was gathered at two times, in April 2014 (T1) and in May 2014 (T2). Employees

who filled out the questionnaire at T1 were asked to fill out another questionnaire at T2. Using

this data collection method this study overcomes shortcomings of cross-sectional research such as

common method bias (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee & Podsakoff, 2003). In this study common

method bias was minimalized by separating the predictor- and criterion measurement moments

and also by using a different answer scale (7-point Likert scale instead of a 5-point Likert scale)

for the emotional exhaustion variable.

Because data was gathered two times during this study, the number of participants in each

data gathering round differs. For the first data round 716 employees were approached, excluding

the employees from the Open University. The Open Universiteit placed the link to the online

questionnaire on intranet, therefore the number of invited employees were not available. For the

second data gathering 262 employees were approached, again excluded the employees from the

Open University.

Sample of participants

From the 716 distributed questionnaires at T1 (excluding the questionnaires that are

distributed via the intranet of the Open Universiteit) 374 responses were returned. 112 Responses

were removed because of missing data, which eventually led to a sample size of 262 usable

responses. The total response rate at T1 was 36.59%. At T2 262 questionnaires were distributed

(excluding the questionnaires that were distributed via the intranet of the Open Universiteit) and

177 questionnaires were returned. From the 177 returned questionnaires 66 were removed

because of missing data, which led to a sample size at T2 of 111 usable responses. The total


response rate at T2 was 42.37%. The response rates of the two data gathering moments both

exceed the rule of thumb given in the literature by Field (2009), which suggests that a study must

have 10 to 15 participants per variable. When this rule of thumb is applied to this study a

response rate of 100 to 150 respondents would be sufficient.

The respondents had a mean age of 42.32 years (SD = 10.33), with an average job tenure

of 14.32 years (SD = 11.53). 48.6 Per cent of the respondents were male and 12.1 per cent had a

management position. From the respondents 1.9 per cent did primary education and another 1.9

per cent did secondary education. 28 Per cent of the respondents did lower vocational education,

42.1 per cent did higher education and 26.2 per cent did University. Regarding the status of the

organizational change, 3.6 per cent of the respondents indicated that their organization was

starting a change, 73.6 per cent were in the middle of an organizational change process, followed

by 17.3 per cent who indicated that their organization was ending a period of changes and 5.5 per

cent had already closed a period of changes.

Independent samples t-test

An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the scores for the respondents

who filled out the questionnaire once and twice. Variables that were included in the samples t-test

were gender, age, tenure, management position, education, LMX, reappraisal, rumination,

resistance to change and emotional exhaustion. Group 1 is the group who filled out the

questionnaire once and group 2 is the group who filled out the questionnaire twice.

There were significant differences in the scores for LMX, rumination and resistance to

change. There was a significant difference on LMX scores for group 1 (M = 3.52, SD = .82) and

group 2 (M = 3.79, SD = .66; t (260) = -3.05, p = < .01, two-tailed). The magnitude of the

differences in the means (mean difference = -.28, 95% CI: -.46 to -.10) was small (eta squared = -

.03). Cohen’s d was also calculated to establish an effect size, this was done by calculating the

following formula: mean 1 – mean 2 / average standard deviation. The Cohen’s d for the

difference in LMX was -.36, which is a small till medium effect size. There was also a significant

difference on rumination scores for group 1 (M = 2.11, SD = .80) and group 2 (M = 1.83, SD =

.63; t (260) = 3.24, p = < .01, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means (mean

difference = .29, 95% CI: .11 to .46) was small (eta squared = .04). The Cohen’s d for the

difference in rumination was .39, which is a medium effect size. There was also a significant


difference on resistance to change scores for group 1 (M = 2.44, SD = .72) and group 2 (M =

2.16, SD = .69; t (260) = 3.15, p = < .01, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the

means (mean difference = .28, 95% CI: .11 to .46 was small (eta squared = .04). The Cohen’s d

for the difference in resistance to change was .39, which is a medium effect size. These

differences in effects indicate that the group who filled out the questionnaire twice had a better

quality LMX relationship, ruminated less and showed less resistance to change compared to the

group who filled out the questionnaire once.

Measures

Unless otherwise indicated, a 5-point Likert scale was used with 1 = strongly disagree and

5 = strongly agree.

Leader-member exchange T1 was measured with a seven-item scale from Graen and Uhl-

Bien (1995) translated by Janssen and Van Yperen (2004). A sample item was: ‘The work

relationship with my supervisor is good’. Cronbach’s alpha was .92.

Reappraisal T1 was measured with a five-item scale taken from Van Dam, Kleine and

Struijs (2013) and Van Dam and Visser (2014). A sample item was: ‘I realize that the

change/situation also has positive sides’. Item ‘I imagine that there are worse things in life than

change’ was removed after conducting a reliability and Principal Component Analysis (PCA),

because this item had a correlation of .13 with the reappraisal scale. In addition, the PCA showed

a relatively low component loading compared to the other items of the reappraisal scale. After the

item was removed Cronbach’s Alpha was .90.

Rumination T1 was measured with a four-item scale from Van Dam, Kleine and Struis

(2013) and Van Dam and Visser (2014). A sample item was: ‘I keep thinking about what

happened’. Cronbach’s alpha was .83.

Resistance to change T2 was measured with a fifteen-item scale from Oreg (2006). A

sample item in the questionnaire was: ‘I feel resistance to the change’. PCA showed that the

reversed items ‘I am open to consider and try out the change’ and ‘I think the change will


personally benefit me’ loaded higher on other scales. After removing the two items Cronbach’s

alpha was .93.

Emotional exhaustion T2 was measured with the five-item emotional exhaustion scale of

the Utrecht Burnout Questionnaire (Van Dierendock & Schaufeli, 2001). A sample item was: ‘I

feel mentally exhausted by my work’. Responses were given on a 7-point Likert scale which

ranged from 1 (never) to 7 (always). Cronbach’s Alpha was .91.

Background measures: Age and tenure were measured with an open answer. Gender was

measured with a two-point scale: man - female. Education was measured as: primary education,

secondary education, lower vocational education, higher vocational education and university.

Management position was measured with a two-point scale: yes - no.

Principal Component Analysis

PCA was conducted to make a clear distinction between the variables. As mentioned

previously, PCA showed that one item of the reappraisal scale had a relatively low component

loading compared to the other items of the scale. Furthermore, two items of the resistance to

change scale loaded higher on other components than on the resistance to change components.

Therefore, these three items are removed. PCA is repeated after removing the three items

whereby the pattern matrix showed that all variables significantly loaded on their own scales. The

PCA after removing the items is included in Table 1.

Statistical analysis

Before conducting hierarchical regression analysis and interpreting the outcomes,

assumptions for conducting hierarchical regression analysis were checked: sample size, outliers,

linearity, normality, homoscedasticity and the independence of residuals (Pallant, 2010).

The mediating effect was studied using the recommendations of Baron and Kenny (1986).

According to Baron and Kenny (1986) three conditions must be met to establish a mediation

effect: LMX must predict reappraisal and rumination; LMX must predict resistance to change and

emotional exhaustion; reappraisal and rumination must predict resistance to change and

emotional exhaustion.


To test the conditions of Baron and Kenny (1989), hierarchical regression analysis was

used. In total four regression analyses were conducted. The first two regression analyses

examined whether there was a relationship between the predictor LMX and the mediating

variables reappraisal and rumination. Subsequently, the whole model was tested implying: testing

whether the relationship between LMX and resistance to change or emotional exhaustion was

partially mediated by reappraisal and rumination. Because there were two dependent variables in

this model (resistance to change and emotional exhaustion) two analyses were necessary. The

first step included all the background variables in the regression analysis as predictors. In the

second step LMX was included. The third step included the mediation variables reappraisal and

rumination.

In this study LMX, reappraisal and rumination were included from measurement moment

T1. The variables resistance to change and emotional exhaustion were included from

measurement moment T2. The reason for this choice is partially based on the Affective Events

Theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), which states that emotions mediate the process between an

event and the response that follows. Therefore, in this study it is assumed that LMX would be the

event that cause the emotion regulation strategy. It is likely that the emotions that follows from

an event are closer in time with LMX than with resistance to change and emotional exhaustion.

Furthermore, reappraisal and rumination are two antecedent focused emotion regulation

strategies, which means that people use these strategies to form or change the situation and

emotional impact before the actual emotion is fully developed. In sum, in this study it is therefore

assumed that LMX and the emotion regulation strategies are closer in time, compared to the

emotional regulation strategies and resistance to change and emotional exhaustion.

Results

Prelimary analysis

Prelimary analysis showed that only education and management position were

significantly related to the dependent variable emotional exhaustion and they were therefore

included in the model test. Table 2 in the appendix presents the means, standard deviations,

intercorrelations and reliability estimates of the study variables.


Hypotheses tests

Hypotheses 1a and 1b stated that LMX would be negatively related to resistance to

change and emotional exhaustion. Results from the hierarchical regression analyses are presented

in Table 2 and Table 3. LMX did not have significant relationships with resistance to change (β =

-.13, ns) and emotional exhaustion (β = -.14, ns). Therefore, hypothesis 1a and 1b were not

supported. However, the relationship between LMX and emotional exhaustion almost reached the

significance level. An ad hoc regression analysis showed that LMX did have a significant

relationship with emotional exhaustion when the background variables education and

management position were not included (β = -.19, p < .05). Additionally, it was found that

management position had a significant relationship with resistance to change (β = .21, p < .05)

and with emotional exhaustion (β = .19, p < .05). Education had also a significant relationship

with emotional exhaustion (β = .22, p < .05).

Hypotheses 2a and 2b assumed a positive relationship between LMX and reappraisal and

a negative relationship between LMX and rumination. Results are shown in Table 4. Hierarchical

regression analysis showed that LMX was significantly related to reappraisal (β = .39, p < .01).

Therefore, hypothesis 2a is supported. However, LMX was not significantly related to rumination

(β = .05, ns). Therefore, hypothesis 2b was not confirmed. Additionally, we found a significant

relationship between management position and reappraisal (β = -.26, p < .01).

Hypotheses 3a – 3d stated that reappraisal would be negatively related to resistance to

change and emotional exhaustion; and rumination would be positively related to resistance to

change and emotional exhaustion. Results are shown in Table 2 and Table 3. Reappraisal was

significantly related to both resistance to change (β = -.47, p < .01) and emotional exhaustion (β =

-.31, p < .01). Therefore, hypothesis 3a and 3b were confirmed. With regard to rumination,

results showed that for both resistance to change (β = .07, ns) as for emotional exhaustion (β =

.16, ns) no significant relationships were found. Therefore, hypotheses 3c and 3d were not

confirmed. In addition, it was found that education still had significant relationship with

emotional exhaustion (β = .22, p < .05), after reappraisal and rumination were included in the

hierarchical regression analysis. The significant relationships between management position and

resistance to change and between management position and emotional exhaustion turned into

non-significant relationships after reappraisal and rumination were included.


Hypotheses 4a – 4d assumed that reappraisal and rumination partially mediated the

relationships between LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and emotional

exhaustion. According to Baron and Kenny (1986) three conditions must be met to establish a

mediation effect and this study did not met the condition: LMX must predict resistance to change

and emotional exhaustion. However, in the literature it is stated that the condition (predictor must

predict criterion) of Baron and Kenny (1986) is too hard and therefore the Sobel test (1982) is

suggested (MacKinnon, Lockwoord, Hoffman, West & Sheets, 2002). The Sobel test (1982) is an

approximate test to test the indirect effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable

via the mediator. The results of the Sobel tests showed a significant effect for the mediating

variable reappraisal (Sobel test = -3.29, p < .01) in the relationship between LMX and resistance

to change. The Sobel test also showed a significant mediating effect of reappraisal (Sobel test = -

2.57, p < .01) in the relationship between LMX and emotional exhaustion. Therefore, hypotheses

4a and 4c were confirmed when conducting the Sobel test. Hypotheses 4b and 4d were not

confirmed, as there were no mediating effects found for rumination when conducting the Sobel

test (1982).

Discussion

This study examined how the emotion regulation strategies reappraisal and rumination

influence the relationships between LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and

emotional exhaustion. The role of emotion regulation strategies during organizational change is

investigated in this study and therefore contributes to the organizational change literature. This

study is furthermore of importance because there is limited research about the relationship

between LMX and emotion regulation strategy.

The results of this study did not show direct relationships between LMX and resistance to

change and between LMX and emotional exhaustion. However, via the Sobel test (1982)

mediation effects via indirect effects were found for reappraisal in the relationship LMX -

resistance to change and LMX - emotional exhaustion. Therefore, the findings of this study

support the expectations that reappraisal partly mediate the relationship LMX - resistance to

change and LMX - emotional exhaustion. Employees who had a high quality LMX relationship

with their supervisor, used the reappraisal strategy during the organizational change and

subsequently experienced less resistance to change and were less emotionally exhausted


compared to employees in low quality LMX relationships. Our findings are in line with AET

theory, which state that emotions mediate the process between affective events and the behavioral

actions that follow (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). Our findings also confirm the studies of Visser

and Van Dam (2014) and Karreman and Vingerhoets (2012), who found mediation effects for

reappraisal in the relationships between perceived organizational justice - resistance to change

and between attachment styles - well-being. The findings of this study imply that organizational

change processes may evolve more fluently when there are high quality LMX relationships in the

organization.

This study did not support the mediating role of rumination in the relationships between

LMX and resistance to change and between LMX and emotional exhaustion. This is not in line

with the findings of Visser and Van Dam (2014) and Bovey and Hede (2001), who found

significant relationships between rumination and resistance to change, also during an

organizational change setting. The findings are also not in line with the findings of Harrington

and Loffredo (2010) and Ciarrochi and Scott (2006), who found that rumination is a strong

predictor of well-being. However, Harrington and Loffredo (2010) state that rumination occurs in

occasion of negative events and in addition, Paulsen et al. (2005) state that emotional exhaustion

stays consistent during different phases of organizational change. In this study most respondents

indicated that their organization (73.6%) was in the middle of an organizational change and

employees may have not experienced the change as a negative event. Subsequently, it is possible

that employees did not use the rumination strategy and also did not felt emotionally exhausted.

Furthermore, most of these studies (except the study of Ciarrochi & Scott, 2006) had a cross-

sectional research design and this study design was longitudinal, which can have caused

differences in the results.

Another explanation could be the time of the measurements. The hierarchical regression

analyses showed no significant relationships between rumination T1 and resistance to change T2

and between rumination T1 and emotional exhaustion T2. However, ad hoc regression analyses

showed significant relationships between rumination T1 and resistance to change T1 (β = .40, p <

.01) and between rumination T2 and resistance to change T2 (β = .27, p < .01). This also holds

for emotional exhaustion, as ad hoc regression analyses showed significant relationships between

rumination T1 and emotional exhaustion T1 (β = .42, p < .01) and between rumination T2 and

emotional exhaustion T2 (β = .45, p < .01). These results indicate that when employees ruminate,


it has an immediate effect on their resistance to change and emotional exhaustion, but this effect

disappears when time passes. This would explain that in our model no significant relationships

between rumination and resistance to change and between rumination and emotional exhaustion

were found, as we measured rumination at another moment in time than resistance to change and

emotional exhaustion.

In summary, this study showed the importance of the emotion regulation strategy

reappraisal during organizational change. Using this adaptive emotion regulation strategy leads to

less resistance to change and less emotional exhaustion during organizational changes. For the

maladaptive emotion regulation strategy rumination no significant associations were found,

regarding the conceptual model in this study. However, ad hoc analyses showed that rumination

does have a significant relationship with resistance to change and emotional exhaustion at the

same moment when rumination occurs. According to the literature rumination is problematic

because it causes distracting behavior and it limits the focus on alternative cognitions, which

could relieve the negative thoughts (Grisham, Flower, Williams & Moulds, 2011). Rumination

can thereby hinder an organizational change process and it also appears that many organizational

change programs fail due to employees’ resistance to change (Bovey & Hede, 2001).

Furthermore, past research showed that rumination can lead to depressive symptoms, mental and

physical disorders, serious health problems and a lower overall quality of life (Nolen-Hoeksema

& Morrow, 1993; Raes, 2010; Leahy, 2007; Just & Alloy, 1997; Harrington & Loffredo, 2010;

Ciarrochi & Scott, 2006). It is therefore important to do further research on the role of rumination

in organizational change processes and the relationships with resistance to change and emotional

exhaustion.

Limitations and recommendations

Several limitations deserve attention to accurately interpret the results of this study. First,

this study has a longitudinal character. A longitudinal design is used to reduce common method

bias which occurs at cross-sectional research. However, a longitudinal design over longer time

may overcome even more shortcomings from cross-sectional research.

Second, even though common method bias is reduced by using two measurement

moments, this study used a self-reporting questionnaire which could partly be the reason for the

relationships found between the variables. Although it is difficult to obtain data from different


sources and methods on this topic, for future research it is recommended to use measures from

different sources and methods. Methods like interviews, surveys and experiments can be used in

combination with self-reporting instruments and data from colleagues and supervisors. The use of

multiple methods is necessary to achieve a better and more complete understanding of emotion

regulation strategies (Gross et al., 2006).

Third, a limitation of this study is the use of convenience sampling. The researchers

contacted their social network to find organizations who were willing to participate in this study.

Therefore, the participating organizations in this study were not randomly selected and therefore

results cannot be easily generalized to the population. However, because the organizations were

from different branches it could benefit generalization.

Fourth, the data used in this study has both advantages as disadvantages. An advantage of

this data is that most organizations were in the middle of an organizational change (73.9%),

whereby the research topic was contemporary and easily to recall for employees while filling out

the questionnaire. Another advantage is the diverse data, since it contains information from

employees from nine different organizations. However, because nine organizations with different

cultures were included, the questionnaire could be interpreted differently by the employees. This

can have caused noise in the data. Another limitation is that the N of this study is not very large

(N = 111).

Fifth, a limitation in this study is the difference between the group who filled out the

questionnaire once and the group who filled out the questionnaire twice. The group who filled out

the questionnaire once scored lower on LMX and higher on rumination and resistance to change.

This means that the group who filled out the questionnaire once, had a slightly worse relationship

with their supervisor, ruminated a little more and had a bit more resistance to the change. If this

group had been willing to fill out the questionnaire twice, the results may have differed, in

particular the results regarding rumination and resistance to change. For future research it is

recommended to include other stimuli (besides sending a reminder) to convince respondents to

participate for the second time.

At last, even though this study provides interesting theoretical and practical implications,

the field of emotion regulation is still in its primary phase. Future research can broaden the

theoretical foundations about emotion regulation during organizational changes. The way people

regulate emotions is personally and can depend partly on personality traits. For future research it


is therefore recommended to investigate the role of personality traits in the emotion regulation

processes. Furthermore, to extent the current literature about emotion regulation it is also

recommended to include other organizational and employee outcomes such as organizational

performance, organizational citizenship behavior, turnover, employee well-being, engagement,

performance et cetera

Practical implications

The results of this study can be used by practitioners to improve and steer employees’

emotions during organizational changes. As many organizational change programs fail due to

employees’ resistance to change, this study can provide interesting insights for practioners to help

organizations succeed in organizational change (Bovey & Hede, 2001). This study indicates that

high quality LMX relationships contribute to the use of the adaptive emotion regulation strategy

reappraisal by employees during organizational change situations. In turn, the use of reappraisal

results in less resistance to the change and less emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, high quality

LMX relationships also contribute to a better employee health and well-being, whereby the

organization can save money which otherwise was spent on higher absenteeism, reduced

productivity and higher health insurances (Danna & Griffin, 1999)

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Appendix

Questionnaire items:

LMX scale:

1. My supervisor is willing to personally help me with solving problems at my work.

2. My work relationship with my supervisor is good.

3. I have enough faith in my supervisor to defend and justify his/her decisions when he/she

is not present.

4. My supervisor takes my suggestions for changes into account.

5. My supervisor and I complement each other.

6. My supervisor understands my problems and need well.

7. My supervisor sees what talent I have.

Reappraisal scale: Contact Karen van Dam

Rumination scale: Contact Karen van Dam

Resistance to change scale:

1. I believe that the change will have a negative effect on my work.

2. I think it’s good that the change takes place.

3. I am open to consider and try out the change.

4. I believe that the change will not benefit the department.

5. I think the change will personally benefit me.

6. I am afraid for the consequences of the change.

7. I have a bad feeling regarding the change.

8. The change makes me mad.

9. The change stresses me out.

10. I tend to oppose the change.

11. I tend to resist the change.

12. I am searching for ways to prevent the changes.

13. I reject the changes that resulted from the change.


14. I complain about the change to my friends and colleagues.

15. I express my objections of the change to members of the management.

Emotional exhaustion scale:

1. I feel mentally exhausted by my work.

2. A whole day of work is a heavy burden for me.

3. I feel ‘burned’ by my work.

4. At the end of the day I feel empty.

5. I feel tired when I get up in the morning and there is another working day for me again.


TABLE 1

Principal Component Analysis

Component

1 2 3 4 5

LMX item 1 .839

LMX item 2 .789

LMX item 3 .806

LMX item 4 .833

LMX item 5 .839

LMX item 6 .896

LMX item 7 .714

Reappraisal item 2 .834




Rumination item 1 .704




Resistance item 1 .532














Emotional Exhaustion item 1 .840





Note: factors < .35 are not presented

TABLE 2

Means, Standard Deviations, Intercorrelations, and Reliability Estimates

Variable N M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Age 111 42. 27 10. 37

2. Tenure 111 14. 00 11. 66 . 68**

3. Gender 111 1. 49 . 50 . 17 . 04

4. Education 111 3. 92 . 83 -. 28** -. 34** -. 06

5. Management position 111 1. 89 . 31 -. 17 -. 04 -. 18 -. 11

6. T1 LMX 111 3. 24 . 56 -. 03 -. 04 . 04 -. 18 . 06 (. 92)

7. T2 LMX 107 3. 80 . 63 . 07 -. 03 . 04 -. 17 . 21* . 74** (. 93)

8. T1 Reappraisal 111 3. 42 . 81 . 11 . 04 . 02 -. 04 . 28** . 41** . 38**

9. T2 Reappraisal 107 3. 33 . 86 . 15 . 06 -. 03 -. 00 . 29** . 21* . 29**

10. T1 Rumination 111 1. 83 . 63 -. 05 . 04 . 07 . 01 . 19 . 06 -. 08

11. T2 Rumination 107 1. 66 . 55 . 05 . 23* . 09 . 02 . 03 . 04 -. 09

12. T1 Resistance to change 111 1. 89 . 59 -. 14 -. 04 . 08 . 11 -. 15 -. 21* -. 28**

13. T2 Resistance to change 110 2. 21 . 68 -. 02 . 09 -. 10 . 04 -. 22* -. 15 -. 25**

14. T1 Emotional exhaustion 111 2. 20 1. 02 -. 25** -. 16 . 10 . 18 -. 11 -. 08 -. 23*

15. T2 Emotional exhaustion 111 2. 10 . 80 -. 16 -. 01 . 00 . 23* -. 18 -. 19* -. 28**

Variable 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1. Age

2. Tenure

3. Gender

4. Education

5. Management position

6. T1 LMX

7. T2 LMX

8. T1 Reappraisal (. 90)

9. T2 Reappraisal . 59** (. 85)

10. T1 Rumination -. 04 -. 07 (. 83)

11. T2 Rumination -. 06 -. 07 . 44** (. 81)

12. T1 Resistance to change -. 56** -. 41** . 35** . 32** (. 93)

13. T2 Resistance to change -. 48** -. 52** . 07 . 25** . 55** (. 93)

14. T1 Emotional exhaustion -. 28** -. 20* . 41** . 46** . 46** . 23* (. 93)

15. T2 Emotional exhaustion -. 38** -. 34** . 14 . 47** . 39** . 46** . 69** (. 91)

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate internal consistency reliability estimates. Gender: 1 = male; 2 = female. Education: 1 = primary education; 2 =

secondary education; 3 = lower vocational education; 4 = higher vocational education; 5 = university. Management position: 0 = no, 1 = yes.


TABLE 3

Results hierarchical regression analysis, dependent variable: T2 resistance to change

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Background variables

T1 Education .06 .04 .03

T1 Management position -.22 * -.21 * .11

Independent variables

T1 LMX -.13 .05

T1 Reappraisal -.47 ***

T1 Rumination .07

R² .05 .07 .25

Δ R² .05 .02 .18

Δ F 2.85 1.77 12.60 ***

Note: * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

TABLE 4

Results hierarchical regression analysis, dependent variable: T2 emotional exhaustion

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3


T1 Education .25 ** .22 * .22 *

T1 Management position -.21 * -.20 * -.15


T1 LMX -.14 -.03

T1 Reappraisal -.31 **

T1 Rumination .16

R² .09 .11 .22

Δ R² .09 .02 .11

Δ F 5.56 * 2.23 7.18 **

Note: * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.


TABLE 5

Model 1

T1 Reappraisal

Model 2

T1 Reappraisal

Model 1

T1 Rumination

Model 1

T1 Rumination


T1 Education -.07 -.00 -.01 -.00

T1 Management position .29 * .26 * .19 .18


T1 LMX .39 *** .05

R² .08 .23 .03 .04

Δ R² .08 .15 .03 .00

Δ F 4.89 ** 20.14 *** 1.92 .22

leader-member exchange, resistance to change, emotional

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