Recency and Mere Exposure bias impacting change management efforts
Organizational change involves multiple stakeholders and can profoundly impact a company's culture and workforce. However, two psychological biases, the recency bias, and the mere exposure effect, can limit the success of organizational change initiatives and make it difficult for leaders to understand their employees' needs and perspectives.
The recency bias is a cognitive bias that leads individuals to place a disproportionate emphasis on recent events and experiences when making decisions and forming opinions. In the context of change, this can result in a tendency to focus on the current change initiatives and overlook the lessons learned from previous experiences. As a result, leaders may miss meaningful opportunities to address the root causes of resistance and effectively engage employees in the change process. In my IDIs (in-depth interviews) with users, we always spend time discussing previous change efforts and, from their perspective, what did and didn't work.
Studies in this area include;
"Recency Bias and the Perception of Risk: Evidence from the Housing Market" (2010) by economists Wei Xiong and Tao Zha demonstrated the impact of recency bias on the perception of risk in the housing market.
"The Influence of Recency Bias on Organizational Decision Making" (2015) by management researcher Susan E. Jackson explored the impact of recency bias on organizational decision-making and the role of OCM in mitigating its effects.
"The Impact of Recency Bias on Investment Decisions" (2016) by finance researcher Heitor Almeida and economists Felix Meschke and Sattar Mansi examined the impact of recency bias on investment decisions and the strategies used to mitigate its effects.
The mere exposure effect refers to the psychological phenomenon whereby individuals have a preference for stimuli they have been exposed to in the past. In organizational change, this can result in resistance to new processes and technologies that employees need to familiarize themselves with, even if they are more effective or efficient than existing ones. Because of this bias, we are cautious about who can get access to pilot or proof-of-concept environments. It can also be an issue during UAT (user acceptance testing). During UAT, we need users that have not previously been exposed to the project/features/apps so that we can gather their perspectives without the baggage of the past.
Studies in this area include;
"The Mere Exposure Effect" (1968) by psychologist Robert Zajonc was one of the first studies to explore the impact of repeated exposure on liking and preference.
"The Influence of Mere Exposure on Consumer Attitudes" (1984) by marketing researcher Richard L. Moreland and social psychologist Scott R. Rogers demonstrated the impact of mere exposure on consumer attitudes and purchasing behavior.
"The Impact of Mere Exposure on Choice" (2010) by psychologists David A. Luttrell and Michael D. Lee, examined the impact of mere exposure on consumer choice and decision-making.
You can help mitigate the impact of recency bias and mere exposure effect by taking a proactive approach to change management. This includes recognizing the importance of stakeholder engagement and open communication, being transparent about the goals and benefits of change initiatives, and taking the time to understand employee needs and concerns. Additionally, leaders can help employees overcome the mere exposure effect by providing opportunities to learn about new processes and technologies and experience their benefits firsthand. One of my favorite activities with new teams is setting up immersion sessions and facilitating teams' experiences in a safe environment. We often do this in CDX-immersions for the Microsoft platform or a Sandbox environment in the Salesforce platform.
The recency bias and mere exposure effect are common biases that can limit the success of organizational change initiatives. In OCM, we work hard to mitigate these biases by building support for change and ensuring its successful implementation. Leaders play a critical role in recognizing these biases and taking steps to reduce their impact by engaging employees, communicating openly, and providing opportunities for learning and growth. By working together, companies can overcome challenges and drive positive results for their employees, customers, and stakeholders.
