Cultivating flexibility: the relationship between flexible organizational values, participation climate, and job attitudes from an employee perspective

Adopting a flexible organizational culture have the potential to be a remedy for organizations that face globalization, technological advancements, and higher expectations from the workforce. However, research on the mechanism between organizational culture and its outcomes remain understudied. This study adopts an employee-centric approach, suggesting that employees’ perception of a participation climate act as a mediator between flexible organizational culture values (clan and adhocracy values) and employees’ organizational commitment and readiness for change. Cross-sectional data was collected from 619 police employees and analyzed by a two-step structural equation modeling approach. The results supports participation climate as a mediator. Participation climate partially mediated the relationship between clan culture and organizational commitment, adhocracy culture and organizational commitment, and adhocracy culture and readiness for change. Full mediation was found for the relationship between clan culture and readiness for change. Theoretically, this study provides supporting evidence of a relationship between employees’ perceptions of flexible organizational values and a climate for participation, grounded in the notion that organizational climate is the surface level manifestation of organizational culture. Practically, the results offer valuable insight for leaders and organizations who seek knowledge on flexible values, participation climate, employee commitment and readiness for change.