A Multi‐Level Approach to Direct and Indirect Relationships between Organizational Voice Climate, Team Manager Openness, Implicit Voice Theories, and Silence

Michael Knoll,Bertolt Meyer,Birgit Schyns,Pedro Neves

doi:10.1111/apps.12242

Abstract

Employee silence impedes sustainable organizational development, and it can conceal harm for internal and external stakeholders. Established approaches to overcoming silence in organizations draw on the assumption that employees withhold their views based on deliberate elaborations on the effectiveness and risks they associate with voice. Our research aims at complementing these approaches. Applying an information processing approach to culture and using implicit voice theories (IVTs; i.e., taken‐for‐granted beliefs about when and why speaking up at work is risky or inappropriate) as an example, we introduce a model proposing ways through which shared implicit knowledge structures emerge in teams and organizations, and how they affect motives to remain silent. We examine parts of the model with a sample of 696 employees nested in 129 teams and 67 organizations. Our findings show that IVTs can be shared at the team and organizational level, that shared IVTs explain variance in silence motives above and beyond perceptions of organizational climate and manager openness at the team and organization level, and that IVTs function as a mediator between team manager openness and silence motives. In sum, our findings point at shared IVTs as a way to conceptualize underlying basic assumptions of cultures of silence.

Highlights

The potential role of implicit knowledge structures for the occurrence of employee silence has been examined at the individual level, and it has been proposed that these implicit knowledge structures have their roots in early socialization
We propose that treating implicit voice theories (IVTs) as fixed and formed outside of an individual's current organization unnecessarily neglects - at least two opportunities IVTs offer for understanding the potential role of implicit cognitive structures as antecedents of silence at work
That is why we focused on providing first evidence for the possibility of collectively-held IVTs and enrich silence research by examining whether IVTs are shared within groups and whether shared IVTs explain unique variance in motives for remaining silent above and beyond established predictors at the teamand organizational level

Summary

Introduction

F employee silence has been examined at the individual level, and it has been proposed that these implicit knowledge structures have their roots in early socialization. Drawing upon research on implicit theories in other domains (e.g., intelligence, relationships, leadership; Beckmann, Wood, Minbashian, & Tabernero, 2012; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Knee, 1998; Lord et al, 2020) and organizational culture (Hanges et al, 2000; Schein, 1990), we argue in favour of a revision of current conceptualizations of IVTs. As summarized, we suggest that IVTs affect motives to remain silent at the individual, and at the collective level, and that employees' IVTs are influenced by early socialization, and by experiences within their current work context. Theoretical Background Over the span of a month, a week, or even a day, many employees withhold work-

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion