Threat rigidity

Threat rigidity is an organizational behavior where the response to perceived threats is an inflexible adherence to established routines and behaviors, even when change may be more appropriate.^[1]

Threat rigidity can lead to employee disengagement.^[2][1]

The return to office initiative has been in part attributed to threat rigidity.^[2]

The contingency theory provides an alternative to threat rigidity enabling changes to occur.^[3]

The term was coinned in a 1981 paper Threat Rigidity Effects in Organizational Behavior: A Multilevel Analysis.^[4][5]

See also

• Einstellung effect
• Old habits die hard
• Transformation saturation