Organizational capacity for change, change experience, and change project performance

Building on the literature on organizational capacity for change, this study addresses two questions. First, why are some organizations more capable of change than others? Second, are organizations that are better at changing also more successful with their change projects? An analysis of data from a questionnaire given to top management in 134 firms in Germany found that an organization's capacity for change associates positively with the performance of its change projects. Higher levels of technological turbulence do not strengthen this relationship but weaken it. This study also shows that higher levels of technological turbulence as well as perceived positive previous change experiences are positively associated with an organization's capacity for change, but higher levels of competitive intensity and the amount of previous change experience are not.