Abstract

Sequenced change management models were developed in institutional settings characterised by stable rules, reliable formal authority, and workforce continuity across the change horizon. Transitional economies satisfy none of these conditions, yet the models are widely transposed into them. This article asks what organizational capability substitutes for stage sequencing when the sequence cannot be sustained, and locates the answer in the administrative layer. It develops an Administrative Change Leadership Framework comprising structural continuity management, cross-institutional coordination, adaptive knowledge management, and strategic communication for change legitimacy. Each component is theoretically mapped to a specific institutional deficiency identified in the literature on post-socialist institutional transition, rather than presented as a general administrative virtue. Digital transformation is treated not as a separate topic but as a cross-cutting condition that intensifies each deficiency, principally by generating parallel analogue and digital operating states that regulatory lag prevents organizations from resolving. The framework’s unifying logic is decoupling: each component relocates change capability from a linear sequence carried by individuals into durable structures and artefacts that survive institutional flux and personnel displacement. The article is conceptual. It advances five propositions for empirical testing, specifies the research designs required to test them, and supplies operational instruments for recruitment screening and authority design derived from the framework.

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