The study seeks to examine the influence of environmental-related factors among middle managers in Malaysian government organization. Specifically, this study seeks to determine the influence of subjective norms and social influence in public organizations on acceptance of change. Present study employed cross-sectional survey involving a sample of 400 Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADO) in Malaysian Public Service organizations. The findings highlighted that middle managers' subjective norms in this study were significant in influencing acceptance of change but are not affected by their social pressure when changes are implemented. Practically, this investigation proffers essential effort in understanding the acceptance of change of middle managers in public service organizations. This study suggests ADO as change agents should be well informed and consulted to create social pressure among them to act in supportive ways of implementing planned change Theoretically, the results of this study append to the literature and to a certain extent provide better explanation of Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Cognitive Theory in the context of acceptance of change. The population of this study involved ADO as middle managers in Malaysian Public Service organizations thus the results cannot be generalized to other level of employees in public sector as well as private service organizations. A comparative study involving both public and private service organizations would be worth studying in future.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of acceptance of change on Administrative Diplomatic Officers (ADO) from the Management and Professional Group in the Malaysian public service organizations.Design/methodology/approachA total of 400 respondents were selected from 6904 ADO who served in Malaysian public service organizations. Data for this study were collected using self-administered questionnaires to study the direct relationship of individual and environmental factors toward acceptance of change; and the impact of organizational support as mediator on the relationship of environmental factors on professionals' acceptance behavior on organizational change. The paper uses quantitative research design, and the hypotheses formulated for this study were tested using SEM AMOS.FindingsThe study revealed that organizational support, attitude toward change, subjective norms and social influences all have significantly direct effect on acceptance to change. In contrast, results showed that locus of control has no direct influence on dependent variable. The results of mediation model analysis suggested that organizational support partially mediates the relationship of subjective norms on acceptance of change.Research limitations/implicationsThe population of this study was only involved ADO as middle managers in Malaysia public service organizations. The author's choice of sample limits the generalizability of the results. However, the choice made was instrumental, convinced in reaching a good and rich set of data. It is thus enabled to obtain an ample understanding of the dynamics in the case.Practical implicationsPerceived organizational support should be crucial element taken by human resource development practitioners in Malaysian public service in ensuring that Management and Professional Groups smoothly adapted to organizational changes through subjective norms and social influence.Social implicationsPresent study is essential to provide empirical mapping of a hitherto unexplored acceptance of change within the predictor variables examined in this research. By providing a better understanding of public servants' acceptance of change through research variables, this may then improve their service to deliver government work plans and achieving goals.Originality/valueThe findings of this study extend the knowledge of acceptance of change behavior in the context of Management and Professional Group in Malaysia public service. The integration between selected individual and environmental variables toward acceptance of change behavior with mediating variable of perceived organizational support adds values to the body of knowledge toward understanding the process of acceptance of change behavior. The scientific contribution of this paper created an empirical evidence of unexplored area of acceptance of organizational change within the Management and Professional Group, highlighting that the middle managers in public sector organizations veritably believe they are responsible for their own success.

Despite the number of transformation plans were implemented by public service organizations, there is still lack of studies concerns on the employees’ acceptance of change in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore the direct influence of perceived organizational support and employee’s acceptance of change by middle managers in Malaysian Public Service organizations. A total of 400 Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADO) were selected by using random sampling method and data for this study were collected using self-administered questionnaires. This study employed descriptive and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation to answer research objectives. The findings discovered that acceptance of change and organizational support is significantly positive correlated. Though this investigation may add knowledge to the body of literature on acceptance of change behavior and perceived organizational support, future researchers are encourage to explore the variables on different level of officers in public service organizations as well as to conduct differential study comprise of both public and private organizations.