LEADER GROUP PROTOTYPICALITY AND RESISTANCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: THE MODERATING ROLE OF NEED FOR CLOSURE AND TEAM IDENTIFICATION

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between leader group prototypicality (the extent to which a leader is representative of the collective identity) and followers' resistance to organizational change. Specifically, leader group prototypicality was expected to interact with individual differences in need for cognitive closure and team identification, such that leader group protototypicality was related most positively to follower willingness to change for followers with relatively high need for closure and team identification. Results of a cross-sectional survey (N = 102) of the employees of a large Italian aerospace company provided support for the proposed three-way interaction among leader prototypicality, need for cognitive closure, and team identification. We discuss how these findings both advance our understanding of leadership of change and extend the social identity analysis of leadership.