Different Workplace Currencies and Employee Voice: From the Multidimensional Approach of Leader-Member Exchange.

Qiwei Zhou,Fan Wu,Da Huo

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00589

Abstract

Building upon social exchange theory and the current voice research, we posit that employee workplace “currencies of exchange” with the leader (i.e., social currency and work-related currency) are key predictors of employee promotive and prohibitive voice. Furthermore, we distinguish between the different roles of social currency and work-related currency in predicting promotive and prohibitive voice, respectively. More importantly, this study further explores the moderating effects of two important individual characteristics, psychological safety and power distance orientation, on the relationships between currencies and voice. We randomly sampled 598 Chinese employees via an online survey platform to test our hypotheses. Our results show that both social currency and work-related currency are determinants of promotive voice and prohibitive voice. Moreover, the boundary conditions for the two kinds of currencies are different. Specifically, employee psychological safety strengthens the influence of social currency on both types of employee voice, while employee power distance orientation could only amplify the relationship between work-related currency and promotive voice. Our research provides important implications for both theory and practice. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Highlights

Great changes have taken place in the business world during recent years
We focus on two important individual characteristics: psychological safety and power distance orientation, and we examine the extent to which these individual factors may affect employee voice behavior in conjunction with relational predictors
We focus on the role of power distance orientation in the relationship between work-related currency and voice because the influence of power distance largely unfolds in the work relationship between leaders and subordinates through their task-oriented interactions

Summary

Introduction

In order to survive in the progressively competitive environment, organizations have to be increasingly adaptive to changes. This requires proactive behaviors and contributions from every employee in the organization (Fuller et al, 2006). To this point, Morrison (2011) summarized the importance of voice and noted that the extent to which employees are willing to express their concerns and offer their suggestions about key issues can have a critical impact on operating performance and organizational survival.

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Discussion

Conclusion