Improving evidence quality for organisational change management through open science

Abstract

Purpose

Popular contingency approaches to organisational change management imply that it is known what and when practices are most appropriate and effective to manage change. The current work aims to question this assumption.

Design/methodology/approach

The current work critically reviews the quality of current evidence supporting organisational change management and considers the role of open science practices for the field.

Findings

First, evidence informing organisational change management is poor, heavily reliant upon unquestioned theoretical models and low-quality cross-sectional or case-study designs. Greater adoption of an evidence-based approach to practice could facilitate organisational change management, but only once a higher quality of evidence is available to inform more robust practical guidance. Second, open science practices look well placed to drive a higher quality of evidence suitable for informing future change management.

Originality/value

The current work highlights the problematic nature of the quality and application of current evidence to inform organisational change and raises a number of recommendations to support future evidence development using an open science approach.

Citation

Evans, T.R. (2020), "Improving evidence quality for organisational change management through open science", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 367-378. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-05-2019-0127