In the firm or the corporate world, downsizing means a reduction in workforce or employee population in an organization. This review paper analyzes 20 research papers sourced from Research Gate and Google Scholar to examine how trust, loyalty and employee morale among surviving employees are affected by organizational downsizing. The reviewed studies predominantly employed cross-sectional methodologies. The findings reveal that redundancy is perceived as a highly toxic change management activity that often fails to achieve its intended objectives while generating multiple adverse consequences. Organizational downsizing significantly impacts trust, loyalty, and employee morale in surviving employees. It transforms the overall employee perception, as workers become hesitant in performing their duties and responsibilities. The motivation to exceed expectations diminishes due to the heightened possibility of being included in future workforce reductions. The investigation also reveals that according to survivors' perception, redundancy is deemed one of the most detrimental change management activities and rarely fulfills the goals for which it was implemented, accompanied by various underlying effects. Therefore, it can be clearly concluded that the process of organizational downsizing exerts negative effects on trust, loyalty and morale among surviving employees. It alters the overall outlook, and employees experience persistent job insecurity. Consequently, their organizational commitment diminishes over time as they remain uncertain about their continued employment. Thus, downsizing results in adverse organizational consequences for various key stakeholders, including the surviving employees.
Keywords: Trust, loyalty, employee morale, organisational downsizing.
How to cite this article: Chaudhary A, Ashutosh K. The impact of downsizing on trust, loyalty and employee morale in surviving employees of the organisation – a review. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(3s): 802-810; DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.3s.97
Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None