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Change initiatives that have been introduced in Oromia public organizations have not met the desired outcomes. Although literature demonstrates the role of organizational culture and leadership for successful organizational change, the impact of existing culture and leadership on change has largely been neglected during the implementation of change initiatives in the Oromia public sector. Therefore, this study examines the effect of organizational culture on change management through leadership styles. The study was conducted on a sample of 301 individuals, determined out of the total population of 3035 people working across 16 public sectors. Survey questionnaires were distributed and collected from a proportional sample drawn using stratified simple random sampling. The results of the structural equation modeling analysis revealed leadership style and organizational culture have a significant positive direct effect on change management, explaining 64% of the variance. Moreover, organizational culture has a significant indirect effect on change management. Leadership style partially mediates the relationship. The study highlighted the importance of a constructive culture and transformational leadership for the successful management of change. Public organizations, therefore, need to develop norms of constructive culture which are collaborative, achievement-oriented, innovative and open to support the change efforts with relevant culture. Moreover, organizations need to have transformational leaders to manage the change process effectively. This study helps public organizations in the development of successful change management strategies by identifying cultural norms and leadership style needed for change success in the context of developing county.
Abawari et al. (2024) studied this question.