Call for Submissions to the Professional Development Workshop (PDW) on "Unpacking Research on Employee Resistance and Support of Organizational Change" at AOM 2025
Sponsors: ODC, OB, SAP, MOC
Why do some employees embrace change while others resist it-even when facing the same initiative? As organizations navigate dynamic environments-from digitalization and restructuring to climate adaptation and AI-understanding how individuals experience and respond to change is critical. This PDW convenes scholars who take different approaches to understanding change responses, with the aim of fostering dialogue across research communities, surfacing emerging themes, and challenging prevailing assumptions. In doing so, the session seeks to push the boundaries of current thinking and generate new momentum for future research. Through active engagement, the workshop also offers opportunities for meaningful connections among scholars at different career stages.
- In the first part, panelists will present brief summaries of their perspective on responses to change, followed by an interactive Q&A session. Drawing on these discussions, we hope to derive an agenda for future research and spark ideas for work on advancing our understanding of responses to change.
- In the second part of this workshop, panelists and junior researchers will be grouped on the basis of shared interests to discuss selected research projects. Panelists will act as facilitators and provide feedback on submitted work. We hope the roundtable discussions will lead to collaborative exchanges and constructive insights. Pre-submitted extended abstracts should be related to the workshop theme. They can pertain to research at various stages of development (e.g., method design, data collection, etc.).
If you are interested in participating in the second part (paper development), please submit your extended abstract (instructions below) by email to peng@rsm.nl no later than June 20, 2025. Note that everyone is welcome to participate only in the first part of the PDW, but you must submit your abstract to participate in the second part.
Schedule: Sunday, July 27, from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM (CEST) at Bella Center in Hall B-B0-m1
Panelists and facilitators:
- Jean Bartunek, Boston College: An interpretive lens on responses to change
- Tina Kiefer, The University of Warwick: An event-based lens on responses to change
- Jane Lê, WHU: A practice-theoretical approach to responses to change
- Shaul Oreg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The complexity of responses to change
Organizers:
- Katerina Gonzalez, Suffolk University
- Rouven Kanitz, Erasmus University
- Tianqi Peng, Erasmus University
Sample topics for submissions (not exclusive):
- Resistance to and support of organizational change (e.g., AI implementation, sustainability initiatives, org. culture changes, restructuring, DEI, mergers and acquisitions)
- Collective responses to change at the group and organizational level
- Temporal development of responses to change over time
- Emotions in the context of organizational change
- Stress, coping, and adaptation in response to change
- Identity and identification processes during organizational change
- Sensemaking and discursive perspectives on change
- Perceptions of fairness, justice, and ethics in organizational change
- Individual characteristics and responses to change
- Leadership and its influence on employee responses to change
- Employee reactions to change management practices and interventions
- Work environment and contextual (multilevel) influences on responses to change
Extended abstract format:
- Max. 5 pages (excluding references), Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, 1.5 line spacing
- Depending on the stage of your work, you may organize the submission as you wish. You may include the following sections:
- Motivation of research topic
- Research questions/hypotheses
- Theoretical foundation
- (Proposed) methods
- (If applicable) Results
- Theoretical/practical implications
- Brief description of current challenges the author(s) face
Note: Annual Meeting registration is not required to contribute material for your session. However, you must be an AOM member registered for the Annual Meeting to participate in sessions once they start on Friday, July 25th.
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Katerina Gonzalez
Associate Professor
Suffolk University
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