MANAGERS REACTIONS TO A CORPORATE ACQUISITION - A TEST OF AN INTEGRATIVE MODEL

Drawing upon previous theoretical and empirical work on mergers and ac quisitions, survivors' reactions to layoffs, organizational stress, an d perceived personal control, we proposed a structural model of manage rs' reactions to the acquisition of their company. The model was evalu ated on the basis of survey data collected from a sample of middle-lev el managers (N=91) whose company was acquired through a hostile takeov er by another company. Both were Fortune 500 companies. Though most va riables were measured 16 months after the initial implementation phase of the merger, manifest indicators of change in job control were meas ured twice: at the beginning of the implementation phase and 16 months later. Mixed latent/manifest variable structural equations analyses p rovided results that were generally consistent with the proposed model , Implications of the results as well as suggestions for future resear ch are discussed.