Why change management initiatives fail during strategy implementation: a multi-level qualitative case study

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine why change management initiatives fail during strategy implementation by analysing how failures emerge, interact and compound across organisational levels. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative single embedded case study was conducted within a large, multi-site US-based organisation undertaking strategy-driven transformation initiatives. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) stratified across executives, middle managers and front-line employees were triangulated with organisational documents and analysed thematically. The study adopts an explicitly disclosed project-governance-informed analytical lens. Findings Six interrelated themes emerged: communication challenges, insufficient training and support, employee resistance, leadership accountability gaps, generational and cultural differences, and misalignment between strategy and execution. The findings suggest that execution failure develops as a systemic, temporally compounding process rather than as isolated breakdowns, and that passive resistance is contingent on the governance conditions surrounding execution rather than on strategic goals themselves. Research limitations/implications The single-case design and modest sample limit statistical generalisability. Findings support analytical generalisation and warrant multi-case and longitudinal extension. Practical implications Organisations can improve execution reliability by governing strategic change as formal projects with clear ownership, decision rights, sustained leadership engagement and benefit realisation mechanisms, and by equipping middle managers with the authority their translation role requires. Social implications Understanding how strategic change is experienced across organisational levels has implications for employee well-being, trust and engagement during periods of transformation. When communication, leadership support and alignment are inconsistent, employees may experience uncertainty, role strain and disengagement. By highlighting the importance of sustained sensemaking and inclusive execution practices, this study underscores how more attentive change processes can reduce unnecessary stress and improve the social sustainability of organisational change initiatives. Originality/value The study offers multi-level empirical insight into the interaction of governance, behavioural and structural dynamics during strategy implementation and extends project governance theory to ongoing strategic transformation.