Sustaining Change Through People The Role of Super Users as Change Ambassadors

Abstract

Organisations are increasingly operating in settings characterised by continuous and complex change. While many change initiatives succeed in implementation, fewer manage to sustain new ways of working once formal change initiatives end. This thesis explores how super users function as change ambassadors and how their role can support the long-term sustainment of organisational change. The study adopts a qualitative case study approach within a large organisational change programme. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with super users and managerial roles involved in a change programme, focusing on multinational system implementation. The empirical material was analysed thematically and interpreted in relation to established change management theory of organisational change. The findings show that super users played a central role in sustaining change through relational influence rather than formal authority. They acted as a link between change objectives and lived reality, enabling local adoption and stabilisation of new practices. However, their impact was strongly shaped by organisational conditions and their surrounding context. Sustainment of the change often emerged informally, creating dependency on individual commitment and limiting organisational resilience. The study concludes that sustaining change requires viewing super users not as temporary implementation resources, but as part of a long-term organisational asset. It was shown how change is not sustained by systems alone but rather the people and conditions that allowed them to succeed.