Organizational Psychology

Purpose. To investigate the approaches to resistance to change and readiness for change, focusing on their distinctions. Methodology and study design. Bibliometric analysis of publications related to attitudes toward organizational changes from 1948 to 2022, identifying the main research directions and their key aspects, comparing concepts and approaches, and revealing the main differences between overcoming resistance and fostering readiness for change. The study utilized co-citation analysis and thematic analysis. Findings. Four main research streams related to resistance to changeand readiness for change were identified: 1) “individual-psychological” stream, 2) “group” stream, 3) “institutional and strategic” stream, and 4) “agency” stream. It was found that resistance to change and readiness for change have different prerequisites. Conclusions and implications for practice. The study highlights the differences in approaches to dealing with resistance to change and unpreparedness for change. Overcoming resistance to change is reactive and requires active involvement from the leader, for example, demonstrating transformational behavior, supporting employees, and resolving conflicts.This sets it apart from the proactive creation of readiness for change, which can primarily focus on informing employees.