The Role of HR as Change Agent Towards Organizational Effectiveness - An Empirical Study with Respect to Pakistani Organizations

Over the last two decades, human resource (HR) experts have been confronted with a new obligation to become Change Agents (Storey, 1992; Ulrich, 1997). Since then, studies have concentrated on the many ways that HR plays this function to support long-term organizational performance and enable effective organizational change. (Alfes, Truss, & Gill, 2010; Long, Wan Ismail, & Amin, 2013). This research study aims to investigate to what extent the HR department plays the role of a Change Agent within organizations working within Pakistan. The data was collected all over Pakistan from different types of Organizations. The respondents were part of the Management Team and belonged to different departments of these organizations. The sample size was 387. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to receive responses from the professionals. A research model was developed to evaluate the proposed relationships, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. The results indicate that Change Drivers (CD) – External Factors have no significant impact on the Change Management Process (CMP). In contrast, Change Drivers – Internal Factors exhibit a positive and significant effect on CMP. Furthermore, Human Social Capital (HSC) has also shown a positive influence on the Change Management Process. The mediating role of Human Social Capital (HSC) between Change Drivers (CD) and Change Management Process (CMP) has been statistically confirmed. In addition, a positive relationship has been identified between the Change Management Process (CMP) and Organizational Effectiveness (OE). The findings also reveal that the Human Resource (HR) Department functions as a moderator in the relationship between CMP and OE, thereby enhancing the influence of effective change management on organizational outcomes.