Communicating during Organizational Change using Social Accounts:The Importance of Ideological Accounts

One way to improve trust in management during large-scale organization changes is with effective communications. This article looks at three types of social accounts (causal, ideological, and referential accounts) to see which are effective at improving trust during major organizational changes. A field study method explored two organizations and found that ideological accounts were best at improving trust in management. The relationship between ideological accounts and trust was mediated by the success of the social account (i.e., the perceived understanding of the change decision). These findings indicate the benefits of highlighting long-term motives for large-scale organizational change.