Employee adjustment to an organizational merger: stress, coping and intergroup differences

Abstract

The present study was designed to test the utility of a stress-coping model of employee adjustment to organizational change. The model was based on the view that an understanding of the determinants of employee adjustment to this type of work stress lies in gaining knowledge about the event characteristics, how the event is appraised, the coping strategies used in response to the change and the extent of the employee's coping resources (neuroticism and social support). Data were collected from 662 fleet staff (mainly pilots) employed in a newly merged airline company. Structural equation analyses provided support for the role of each of the components of the proposed model of employee adjustment— as expected, there was some evidence that both situational appraisals and coping responses mediated the effects of the event characteristics and coping resources on adjustment. Adopting an intergroup perspective, the research was also designed to compare the situational appraisals, coping responses and adjustment of the employees of the two premerger companies (a domestic and an international airline). In accord with predictions derived from social identity theory, the employees of the premerger domestic company had the most positive reactions to the merger, presumably because the merger offered them the opportunity to improve their social identity.

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