  In order to cope with a complex and changing environment, industries seek to
find new and more efficient ways to conduct their business. According to
previous research, many of these change efforts fail to achieve their intended
aims. Researchers have therefore sought to identify factors that increase the
likelihood of success and found that employees' attitude towards change is one
of the most critical.
  The ability to manage change is especially important in software engineering
organizations, where rapid changes in influential technologies and constantly
evolving methodologies create a turbulent environment. Nevertheless, to the
best of our knowledge, no studies exist that explore attitude towards change in
a software engineering organization.
  In this case study, we have used industry data to examine if the knowledge
about the intended change outcome, the understanding of the need for change,
and the feelings of participation affect software engineers' openness to change
and readiness for change respectively, two commonly used attitude constructs.
The result of two separate multiple regression analysis showed that openness to
change is predicted by all three concepts, while readiness for change is
predicted by need for change and participation. In addition, our research also
provides a hierarchy with respect to the three predictive constructs' degree of
impact.
  Ultimately, our result can help managers in software engineering
organizations to increase the likelihood of successfully implementing change
initiatives that result in a changed organizational behavior. However, the
first-order models we propose are to be recognized as early approximations that
captures the most significant effects and should therefore, in future research,
be extended to include additional software engineering unique factors.
