The Role of Age and Tenure as Moderator in Relationship between Organizational Climate and Readiness for Change in Indonesian Air Force

Background. The changing of era would certainly lead to technological advancement. Not only in civil society, the military organization also affected by this change. Indonesian Air Force as a military organization that always try to adapt the newest technology, need to be anticipate such changes. As technology advances, change requires organizations to work more effectively and efficiently. As well as regular employees, soldiers also face challenge caused by the implementation of the new technology. Indonesian Air Force can help their soldier by providing conducive organizational climate for changes. Positive organization climate will increase soldiers’ readiness to deal with any kind of changes that may occur within the organization. Previous research found readiness for change affected by tenure and age. Those who have been work for a long time and getting older will face more challenge to adapt with this technological change. In contrast, the junior soldier tend to be more flexible and have more innovation. This research aim to examine the effect of age and tenure as a moderation in the relationship between organizational climate and soldiers’ readiness for change.

Methods. This research use cross-sectional design. The data were collected using convenience sampling technique which was filled both offline (paper and pencil) and online (digital form). The instruments for this study consisted of organizational climate scale (CLIOR) and Readiness for change scale. The participants in this study were 144 Indonesian Air Force soldiers and civil servants working in the Indonesian Air Force. Participants must have at least one year of experience in their workplace and unlimited by rank levels. The data consist of 108 men and 36 women, 123 soldiers, 20 civil servants and one honorary employee. Respondent’s tenure and age were obtained from their demographic data provide in the questionnaire. The hypothesis tested using simple moderation model (model 1) analysis from Hayes by PROCESS Macro on SPSS 24. The statistical analysis used 10,000 bias-corrected bootstrapped samples with 95% confidence interval.

Results. The first result showed that organizational climate has a significant impact on readiness for change (ß=.36, LLCI=.21, ULCI=.52, p < .05). Second, the tenure has a positive and significant impact on readiness for change (ß=1,76, LLCI=.36, ULCI= 3,15, p < .05). Third, the age also has a positive and significant impact on readiness for change (ß=1,79, LLCI=.43, ULCI= 3,14, p < .05). Fourth, there was no significant moderation effect by tenure on organizational climate and readiness for change relationship (R=.02, t(140)=2,49, p > .05). Fifth, there was a positive and significant effect on organizational climate relationships and readiness for change that is moderated by age (R=.05, t(140)=2,59, p < .05).

Conclusions. The result showed that soldiers’ age moderate the relationship between organizational climate and their readiness for change, but tenure didn’t give moderation effect on the organizational climate and readiness for change.

Added-Values. This study was conducted on a specific population where the respondents are soldiers and civil servants working in the Indonesian Air Force. Access to this population was still very limited for the general public. There is also limited research on readiness for change applied in military institutions, especially for the air force organization. Practical implications for organizational development obtained from this study was the importance of describing the level of Indonesian Air force soldiers’ readiness for change. By considering soldiers’ tenure and age, organizations can provide the right intervention to increase their readiness for change. In addition, accordance with the results of this study, organization also can provide coaching to soldiers on a regular basis that aim to minimize the effect of age changes on their readiness for change. So soldiers will have a grow mindset and ready to face any technological advancement change coming ahead.

Keyword : Readiness for change, organizational climate, tenure, and age

Word Count: 611 words