Enhancing organizational commitment through dynamic capabilities: Evidence from municipal mergers

Municipal amalgamations are a common reform tool aimed at improving efficiency, service delivery, and strategic capacity in local governments. However, research increasingly points to the unintended consequences of these reforms, particularly for organizational resilience and employee engagement. This paper investigates how dynamic capabilities, specifically connective, learning, and innovating capabilities, enable merged municipalities to manage change and sustain employee commitment. Drawing on the microfoundational view of dynamic capability theory and psychological self-determination theory, we theorize that these organizational-level capabilities support key psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence), thereby strengthening employees’ commitment during turbulent transitions. Using mixed-method data from seven recently merged municipalities in Flanders, we demonstrate that perceived dynamic capabilities are positively associated with employees’ commitment in the merged municipality. These findings contribute to public administration research on strategic capacity, organizational adaptation, and the human dynamics of reform.