This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Almost all change is difficult: adapting your lifestyle, a reorganization at work, or starting to use gender-neutral language. When behavioral change is required, resistance is therefore often encountered.
As a result, it can sometimes take a long time for a change to be accepted—and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. It is therefore important to understand where that resistance comes from, according to Radboud University communication scientist Marieke Fransen. Fransen and her colleagues investigated this and identified 12 reasons. 'People who resist change are often dismissed as difficult, but that resistance often stems from entirely legitimate concerns,' says Fransen. 'For example, people are sometimes afraid that the change won't work, or that they don't have the right skills to adapt their behavior, or that the change will restrict their freedom.
It is important for organizations, managers and communications officers to understand these concerns. Then you can address them.' The researchers developed a measurement tool called the 'Reasons for Resistance to Change Scale (RRCS).' The RRCS consists of 36 questions that can be used to measure why people feel resistance to a particular change. The researchers identify the following 12 reasons: To develop the measurement tool, researchers used data from questionnaires completed by 2,341 participants from the United States and the United Kingdom. 'With many changes, people say they feel they have too little autonomy, so that reason comes up frequently,' said Fransen. 'But beyond that, the reasons why people oppose a particular change vary widely.' For example, in the case of a new vaccine, 'fear of the unknown' scored highly within the study population, while people who resist the idea of eating less meat primarily prefer the status quo and do not feel that this change is personally relevant to them. 'If you know which reasons are the main causes of resistance, you can take appropriate action,' according to the researcher. 'If people are wondering whether the change will actually be effective, you can share convincing evidence of this with them through clear communication.
And if people are afraid that they themselves do not have enough skills to make the change, you can offer support or training.' Sometimes the solution does not lie in communication, but rather in adjusting the change itself, making it easier for those involved to accept. For example, if people feel excluded from the decision-making process, it may be a good idea to give them a say after all. 'There will always be resistance,' says Fransen. 'That's not a bad thing. Resistance can actually help us achieve something better.
But rather than speculating about why people aren't on board with a particular change, it's better to measure it.' The study is published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology. Fransen et al., 12 Reasons Why People Resist Change: Development of the Reasons for Resistance to Change Scale (RRCS), Basic and Applied Social Psychology (2026). DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2026.2741816 Bala is a medical language specialist with over 25 years of experience in medical documentation and quality assurance.
With a postgraduate degree in Biochemistry, he brings scientific expertise and editorial precision to Science X's health and medical news coverage. Full profile → PhD nano-engineering from Delft University. Published researcher and journal reviewer.
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