An insight into public sector readiness for change - the Fiji Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into public sector readiness for change from the perspective of four dimensions, namely, change management, change communication, change resistance, and readiness for change; to determine associations between these four dimensions; and to establish a prediction model for readiness for change. Using a structured survey questionnaire, data was collected from the employees of the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF). These research findings suggest statistically significant positive correlations exist between three change variables, namely, change management, change communication, and readiness for change; whereas, negative correlations exist between change resistance and the other 3 variables. The results also show that change management, change communication, and change resistance added statistically significantly to the prediction of readiness for change. This paper makes its theoretical contribution to the scarce theoretical strands relating to change efforts of public enterprises; and practical contribution towards prediction of readiness for change, policy making, and strategic planning at government levels.