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1. Introduction
Although there is no competition in the Greek public sector, healthcare constantly changes due to the introduction of new technologies and market shifts (Narine and Persaud, 2003). Moreover, because of the ongoing financial crisis the country is facing, change becomes even more necessary. Change assists healthcare organizations to upgrade, achieve their objectives, meet citizen expectations, adapt and survive in a dynamic and constantly changing environment (Appelbaum et al., 2015; Buchanan et al., 2005; By, 2005; Farjoun, 2010; Georgalis et al., 2015; Michel et al., 2013; Oreg and Berson, 2011; Peccei et al., 2011; Pieterse et al., 2012).
Given the necessity for change in both the private and the public sector, it is not surprising that resistance to change (RtC) has become an issue of particular importance (Avey et al., 2008; Bovey and Hede, 2001b; Ford et al., 2008; Ford and Ford, 2010; Fuchs, 2011; Oreg, 2006; Pieterse et al., 2012; Wittig, 2012). Resistance is a natural part of the change process (Haslam and Pennington, 2004). There are several types of RtC. Understanding these different types can help understand the ways to reduce resistance and encourage compliance. RtC can be broken down into three groups: organization-level resistance, group-level resistance and individual-level resistance (George and Jones, 2012).
Organization-level resistance includes RtC, that is, due to power and conflict, differences in functional orientation, mechanistic structure and organizational culture (George and Jones, 2012). Group-level resistance includes RtC, that is, due to group norms, group cohesiveness and groupthink and escalation of commitment (Singh et al., 2012). Individual-level resistance includes RtC, that is, due to uncertainty and insecurity, selective perception and retention and habit (Ansoff, 1985).
Despite the fact that the body of literature dedicated to the understanding of RtC is extensive, most researchers still focus on content-related activities (e.g. information dissemination and employee involvement), while source-related activities (e.g. direct and implicit sources of RtC) (Bhattacherjee and Hikmet, 2007; Bordia et al., 2004; Escobar-Rodríguez and Bartual-Sopena, 2014; Georgalis et al., 2015; Hanif et al., 2014; Ming-Chu and Meng-Hsiu, 2015; Oreg, 2006) and management-related activities (e.g. identification of resistance potential, planning of measures for managing RtC) have not being extensively investigated (Cohen, 2007; Folger and Skarlicki, 1999;...