The Influence of Employee-Centered and Organizational Communication on Employee Resistance to Change: A Study at Rabigh Refinery in Saudi Arabia

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of employee–centered and organizational communication on employee resistance to change. This study was held at the Rabigh Refinery in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, this study also tried to determine if the relationship between the variables is moderated by personality. The study was conducted amongst the employees of Rabigh Refinery industrial organizations at Rabigh City in Saudi Arabia
(N=302). Considering the importance of understanding change processes and factors that contribute to successful change nowadays, it is valuable to increase insight into the factors that determine resistance to change. Moreover, since resistance to change is the most frequently cited implementation problem encountered by management when introducing change, especially understanding the factors that determine employee resistance to change is valuable, and for the purpose of data analysis and hypotheses testing, several statistical methods, such as hierarchical multiple regressions analysis and hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to understand the dimensionality of the variables. The findings resulted in acceptance of the study hypotheses formulated. Factors like employee involvement, employee benefits, career development and organizational communication significantly influenced the resistance to change. In addition, the relationship between variables and personality was tested. The findings also showed that two of the personality traits (extraversion and conscientiousness) moderated the relationships between employee involvement, benefits, career development, communication and resistance to change. Based on the research findings, theoretical implications are discussed. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also highlighted. Hence, with limited literature on the area of resistance to change in industrial organizations, the findings have, to some extent, contributed to the understanding of the concept and further enhanced the knowledge in this area, especially in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.