Employee voice mechanisms, transformational leadership, group prototypicality, and voice behaviour: a comparison of portfolio career workers in Japan, Korea and China

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyses the relationship between two kinds of employee voice mechanisms and voice behaviour among portfolio career workers in Japan, Korea and China. Using the conservation of resources theory, we focus on the role of managerial leadership. Under similar sampling procedures, data on 400 managers in each country were collected via web-based surveys conducted for Japan and Korea in 2017 and for China 2018. The findings are as follows: First, the number of team voice mechanisms is positively and directly related to voice behaviour in each country. Second, the number of representative voice mechanisms is positively and indirectly related to voice behaviour in Japan and China. Third, the number of team voice mechanisms is positively and directly related to transformational leadership in each country. Fourth, the number of representative voice mechanisms is positively and indirectly related to the level of transformational leadership in Japan and China. Fifth, transformational leadership is positively related to leader group prototypicality in Japan and China. Finally, leader group prototypicality is positively related to voice behaviour in Japan and China.