ABSTRACT
Organizational change is viewed as an individual-level phenomenon because it occurs only when the majority of people in the organization change their behaviors or attitudes (Whelan-Berry, Gordon, and Hinings, 2003). But people can be the biggest obstacle to change. Resistance is a natural reaction to change, and it can manifest itself in many ways. But while there are predictable, universal sources of resistance, our perception of and reaction to change can be in uenced by our culture. For example, although resistance to change can be found in all organizations in all countries, resistance will be signi cantly greater in high uncertainty avoidance cultures. People from cultures that strongly avoid uncertainty look for anchors that ensure a desired level of certainty (Hofstede, 2005), and they are more likely to resist or reject change because it creates anxiety and threatens certainty. On the other hand, people from cultures that are more tolerant of ambiguity and uncertainty are less likely to strongly resist or reject change.
