Can I speak up? The effect of ethical human resource management on employee ethical voice

Abstract

Organizational development includes moral challenges, and some ethical decisions need to be made; otherwise, the organization will face great public pressure and damage to its public image. In recent years, scholars have expanded past human resource management practices and proposed ethically oriented ones. Can these practices promote employee ethical voice? Based on the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action, this study investigates ethical human resource management (HRM) and ethical voice relationship involves the mediating role of ethical efficacy and the moderating role of ethical task complexity. Data from 265 supervisor-subordinate dyads employed in China revealed that employees’ ethical HRM perceptions directly and indirectly affect their engagement in ethical voice through ethical efficacy, and these effects are stronger for high levels of ethical task complexity. The theoretical and practical implications of our ?ndings are further discussed.