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1. Introduction
Learning to cope with organizational change and effectively implementing change programs can be facilitated through the investigation of individual readiness to change. [3] Armenakis et al. (1993, p. 682) defined readiness as the "cognitive precursor to the behaviour of either resistance to, or support for, a change effort." Readiness is "a mindset that exists among employees during the implementation of organizational changes. It comprises beliefs, attitudes and intentions of change target members regarding the need for and capability of implementing organizational change" ([4] Armenakis and Fredenberger, 1997, p. 144). The concept of readiness is interesting because employees' reactions to change play an important role in every organizational change ([46] Oreg et al. , 2011; [7] Bartunek et al. , 2006). In addition, the readiness factor is one of the most important factors involved in employees' initial support for change initiatives ([3] Armenakis et al. , 1993; [29] Holt et al. , 2007).
Although individual beliefs, attitudes, and intentions are the filters through which people decide whether there is a need for change or whether the organization is capable of implementing change ([64] Zhou et al. , 2005), the concept of "readiness" has been used to reflect three different concepts: individual readiness to change, or confidence in one's abilities (self-efficacy), perceived organizational readiness to change, or confidence in the organization's ability to manage change; and the actual organizational readiness to change, or the organization's ability to implement change.
The issues of concern are twofold. First, the literature does not differentiate between individual and organizational readiness to change, which shows a lack of definitional and conceptual clarity and creates confusion for both research and practice. Second, neglecting the individual-difference perspective of readiness contributes to the development of a partial approach to both theoretical and empirical work. Individual readiness to change is a critical success factor because "organizations only change and act through their members, and even the most collective activities that take place in organizations are the result of some amalgamation of the activities of individual organizational members" ([26] George and Jones, 2001, p. 420).
The aims and objectives of this study is to examine the concept of individual readiness to change and the impact of perceived organizational change on its relationship with personality and...