Finding Courage in Psychologically Unsafe Environments: The Impact of Trait Social Courage and Voice on Leadership Emergence

개인의 성격특성(personality traits)은 리더출현(leader emergence)을 예측하는 핵심 요인 중하나로 관심을 받아왔다. 특히 최근 연구들은 개인의 긍정적인 성격뿐만 아니라 부정적 성격 중하나인 나르시시즘(narcissism)이 리더출현을 예측하는 중요한 변수임을 제안하고 있다. 하지만 나르시시즘이 강한 사람이 조직에서 리더로 출현하게 되는 메커니즘에 대한 이해는 상대적으로 부족한 상황이다. 이점을 착안하여 본 연구는 나르시시스트(narcissist)가 집단에서 리더로 선택받 도록 이끄는 나르시시스트의 직무관련 행동을 살펴보고자 하였으며, 구체적으로 발언행동(voice behavior)의 역할에 주목하였다. 군 장교 양성기관 피교육생 298명을 대상으로 한 실증연구 결과, 리더출현과 밀접한 관계가 있는 것으로 알려진 다른 성격 요인들(외향성, 포용성, 성실성, 개방성) 을 통제한 후에도 나르시시즘이 리더출현의 고유한 변량을 설명하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 나르 시시즘과 리더출현 간의 정(+)의 관계를 발언행동이 매개하는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 나르시시즘이 강한 구성원에게 있어 발언행동은 조직 내에서 자신을 드러내고 주위로부터 리더로 인식되기 위해 행하는 자기지향적 행동(self-oriented behavior)일 수 있음을 시사하고 있다.The roles of an individual’s personality traits in predicting leader emergence were well-acknowledged in the literature. Recently, narcissism, as a personality trait, has received increasing interests in the field. While the positive relationship between narcissism and leader emergence is well-established, less is known about why, or through what mechanisms, this relationship exists. In this study, we examine what behaviors make narcissists emerge as leaders. Specifically, we focus on the roles of voice behaviors. Using a multi-source survey design, we found that narcissism is positively related to leader emergence even after controlling extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion. More importantly, the positive relationship between narcissism and leader emergence is mediated via voice behaviors. The results imply that individuals who report high narcissism are more likely to engage in voice behaviors, as a self-oriented behavior, to emerge as a leader.

Recently, inclusive leadership is considered as a major leadership concept positively affecting a subordinate’s psychological safety and voice behavior. In this vein, it is suggested that further research on the effect of inclusive leadership is needed to be performed across various industries. In addition, it is pointed that more studies are needed to investigate the contingency factors or boundary conditions to explain relative effects of psychological safety. Based on the social information processing theory, this study examined the influence of inclusive leadership on subordinates’ voice behavior through psychological safety in a bank industry. This study also examined the moderating effects of subordinate’s learning goal orientation and power distance orientation on the relationship between psychological safety and voice behavior. Five hypotheses were developed based on literature review and data were collected using off-line questionnaires from employees working for a large-size bank in Korea. A total of 730 questionnaires were used for the analyses to test hypotheses. The results supported all of five hypotheses developed in this study. First, the result shows that there is a significant and positive relationship between inclusive leadership and a subordinate’s voice behavior. Second, inclusive leadership significantly and positively relates to a subordinate’s psychological safety. Third, a subordinate’s psychological safety partially mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and voice behavior. Forth, a subordinate’s learning goal orientation positively moderates the relationship between psychological safety and voice behavior. Finally, a subordinate’s power distance orientation negatively moderates the relationship between psychological safety and voice behavior. This study shows the importance of inclusive leadership of bank branch manager and its relationships with a subordinate’s psychological safety and voice behavior, and the boundary conditions explaining the relative effect of psychological safety on voice behavior. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed and the directions for future research are proposed.

Does Honesty–Humility influence evaluations of leadership emergence? The mediating role of moral disengagement

Teachers’ voice behaviour has attracted growing attention in universities due to its positive outcomes for institutional reform and improvement. This study investigated how and under what conditions university leaders’ transformational leadership is beneficial to teachers’ voice behaviour using data collected from 434 teachers from universities in China. As a result, we proposed a moderated mediation model of the association between transformational leadership and teachers’ voice behaviour in which group voice climate was used as the mediator and team psychological safety as the moderator. The results revealed evidence of an indirect effect of transformational leadership on teachers’ voice behaviour through the significant mediating role of group voice climate. Moreover, we found evidence that team psychological safety acts as a significant moderator of group voice climate and teachers’ voice behaviour and strengthens the effect of the entire mediating mechanism. Specifically, the mediation effect of group voice climate was significant when team psychological safety levels were at medium or high rather than low levels. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the benefits and effective mechanism of the impact of transformational leadership on teachers’ voice behaviour in the Chinese university context and offer practical suggestions for facilitating teachers’ voice behaviour in institutions.

In today's dynamic and hypercompetitive business environment,employees' opinions and suggestions intended to improve organizational functioning and well-being are critical to the survival and development of an organization. Yet,many individuals are not willing to provide thoughts and ideas without inhibition in organizational context. Accumulating evidence suggests that leadership plays a significant role in employees' voice behavior. However,past studies in this domain have primarily focused on the positive aspects of leaders' characteristics and behaviors. Also the mechanisms and processes by which leader-related factors exert their impact have not been adequately explored in the existing literature. In the present study,we tried to examine the influence of abusive supervision on the voice behavior dimensions of promotive voice and prohibitive voice,and investigate the mediating role of perceived organizational support and psychological safety as well as the moderating role of perceived supervisory status playing in the linkages between abusive supervision and voice behavior in the context of Chinese organizations. A structured questionnaire was employed as the research instrument for this study. It consisted of five scales designed to measure the variables of interest,namely abusive supervision,voice behavior,perceived organizational support,psychological safety,and perceived supervisory status. To avoid the Chinese people's tendency of choosing the mid-point of the scale regardless of their true feelings or attitudes,all of the items on the survey were responded to on 6-point Likert scales which did not include a mid-point. Data were collected from 504 full-time employees who came from enterprises and institutions located in Guangzhou,Shenzhen,Changsha and Qingdao. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the above measures were from 0.84 to 0.93,showing good measurement reliabilities. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated the discriminant validity of the measurement was also satisfactory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and total effect moderation model were utilized to analyze the data for testing the hypotheses proposed. In line with predictions,results of SEM analysis revealed that abusive supervision had a significant negative influence on both promotive and prohibitive voice behavior. However,the effects of abusive supervision on the two kinds of voice behavior were transmitted through different mechanisms. Specifically,abusive supervision's negative effect on promotive voice was fully mediated by perceived organizational support,while its negative effect on prohibitive voice was fully mediated by perceived organizational support and psychological safety. In addition,results of total effect moderation model analysis suggested subordinates' perception of supervisory status in organizations significantly moderated the relationship between abusive supervision and perceived organizational support. Abusive supervision was more strongly associated with perceived organizational support when subordinates perceived higher supervisory status. Meanwhile,the indirect effects of abusive supervision on promotive and prohibitive voice mediated by perceived organizational support or psychological safety were also stronger when perceived supervisory status was higher. Finally,the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings,limitations,and future research directions were discussed.

BackgroundNurse voice behavior is a critical factor in ensuring patient safety. Although there is a correlation between voice behavior and psychological safety within nurse teams, the intricate relationship between them has not been sufficiently explored in the literature.DesignA multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted.MethodsFrom April to June 2022, clinical nurses were recruited from five cities in Guangdong Province, China using convenience sampling. Data were collected using validated scales, including the Voice Behavior Scale and Team Psychological Safety Climate Scale. Network analysis was employed to visualize the interactive relationships among variables. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 for baseline characteristics description. Network analysis was conducted on the RStudio platform, with network visualization implemented using the “qgraph” package, network centrality metrics calculated via the “qgraph” and “networktools” package, and network accuracy estimation along with stability testing performed using the “bootnet” package.ResultsThis study included a total of 812 nurses, with a mean age of 33.94 ± 7.95 years, of whom 96.6% were female. The mean scores for the voice behavior scale and the team psychological safety scale were 37.04 ± 5.88 and 58.01 ± 7.57, respectively. Network analysis revealed that the edges between nurses’ voice behavior and team psychological safety were primarily positively correlated. Thestrongest influence was observed for “team members respect the suggestions and perspectives of others”, which had the highest expected influence coefficient. Bridging connections included " if there is a problem with the work of the unit, dare to put forward opinions and suggestions “, " express your opinion on phenomena that affect work efficiency in the unit, without fear of embarrassment “, " timely dissuade other employees in the unit from bad behavior that affects work efficiency “, " most team members are receptive to new ideas or ways of thinking “, and " collaborate with team members to develop skills and expertise “. These findings highlighted critical pathways linking voice behavior and psychological safety in nursing teams.ConclusionThe study revealed moderate levels of voice behavior and team psychological safety among Chinese nurses. Utilizing network analysis, we elucidated the intricate dynamics between these two constructs, identifying six pivotal influencing factors: (1) team members respect the suggestions and perspectives of others, (2) if there is a problem with the work of the unit, dare to put forward opinions and suggestions, (3) express your opinion on phenomena that affect work efficiency in the unit, without fear of embarrassment, (4) timely dissuade other employees in the unit from bad behavior that affects work efficiency, (5) most team members are receptive to new ideas or ways of thinking, and (6) collaborate with team members to develop skills and expertise. These findings underscore the potential for targeted interventions aimed at strengthening these key dimensions to enhance psychological safety and promote voice behavior within nursing teams, ultimately improving team dynamics and organizational outcomes.Trial registrationNot suitable.

Voice behaviors have been received considerable interests both from scholars and practitioners due to its expected benefit to promote continuing organizational innovation. However, few studies have been conducted concurrently considered all factors influencing voice behavior - supervisors, colleagues, and self - to put in to the research model. Thus, this study suggested that follower’s voice behaviors are influenced by leaders’ empowering leadership, individual’s psychological safety, and coworkers’ acquiescent. silence. Specifically, a leader’s empowering leadership is expected to promote subordinates’ psychological safety, subsequently leads to encourage their voice behaviors. Coworkers’ acquiescent silence is expected to negatively moderate the relationship between empowering leadership on subordinates’ promotive voice behaviors which is mediated by subordinates’ psychological safety. To test the research problem, we collected survey data from 171 leader-subordinate pairs and conducted regression analysis. The result supported our research hypotheses, showing the mediation effect of psychological safety and moderated mediation effect of acquiescent silence. From this study, we tried to expand the scope of concepts relating to voice literatures, by examining the process and conditions inducing positive and constructive voice behaviors of organizational member. Also, based on the theoretical model, we suggested practical implications to promote constructive employee voice behaviors.

The increasing digitalization of office work, especially with the rise of remote work, has amplified the impact of technostress in organizations. This study examines how technostress influences employee voice behavior. Grounded in the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, we hypothesize that certain aspects of technostress may positively affect voice behavior, psychological safety, intrinsic motivation, and affective commitment. Our findings provide insights for organizations to understand these dynamics and develop managerial strategies that foster positive workplace behaviors. We conducted a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire with office employees experienced in remote work (N = 361). Data were analyzed using three-step hierarchical regression models to assess the direct effects of technostress on voice behavior. Additionally, structural equation models (SEM) were used to explore indirect effects and the moderating roles of psychological safety, intrinsic motivation, and affective commitment. Our findings reveal that technostress consists of challenge and hindrance components. Techno-uncertainty and, to a lesser extent, techno-overload acted as challenge stressors, positively influencing voice behavior directly or through intrinsic motivation and affective commitment. Conversely, techno-insecurity and techno-complexity emerged as hindrance stressors. Techno-insecurity negatively affected all measured variables, while techno-complexity reduced voice behavior and psychological safety. We observed a positive linear relationship between challenge stressors and voice behavior, a negative linear relationship with hindrance stressors, and a weak U-shaped relationship between techno-insecurity and promotive voice. Our study underscores the need to analyze technostress through the challenge-hindrance stressors framework, as its components can both enhance and hinder employee motivation and voice behavior. We interpret our findings through the lens of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, emphasizing a proactive rather than a defensive or reactive approach. Additionally, we propose managerial strategies to encourage voice behavior in technostress-prone work environments.

Background:Psychological safety, leadership support, and organizational climate frequently limit the primary nurses’ voice behavior. Nurses then tend to remain silent when assessing the possible risks associated with vocalizing concerns (voice behavior). Research predominantly confirms a top-down structure between leadership and voice behavior from clinical nurses, with less research on the mechanism of upward management. This study aimed to validate the mediating role of workplace upward networking between affective leadership and the voice behaviors of clinical nurses.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional survey, using purposeful sampling to select 639 nurses from all primary hospitals in Hangzhou. Measurement tools included the demographic information questionnaire, affective leadership scale, voice behavior scale, and workplace upward networking scale.Results:The relationship between affective leadership and voice behavior mediated by upward networking in the workplace was confirmed. Affective leadership affected workplace upward networking, with an explained variation of 37%. Affective leadership and workplace upward networking affected voice behavior, with an explained variation of 61%.Conclusions:This study provides support for a nursing management model in primary care, emphasizing the cultivation of affective leadership behaviors and style and the enhancement of upward management strategies to foster clinical nurses voicing concerns to management about safety issues or ideas for innovation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effects of ethical culture and psychological safety on the relationship between ethical leadership and teachers' voice behavior. The sample consists of 342 teachers randomly selected from 25 primary and secondary schools. Four different instruments are used in this study. The scales have been translated into Turkish using a translation/back-translation method. All scales have been adapted to an educational context, and their validity and reliability have been examined. Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression analysis are used for analyzing the data. Ethical leadership is found to positively relate to teachers' voice behavior. This relationship is mediated by ethical culture and psychological safety. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future research possibilities have also been suggested.

We theorized and tested a leader-member perspective beyond the existing studies in paradoxical leadership and employee voice behavior. We proposed that paradoxical leadership influences employees’ voice behavior through psychological safety and self-efficacy. We also theorized that team size influences an extent to which the subordinates internalize their self-efficacy and psychological safety to exhibit proactive behavior. In a longitudinal study conducted on 155 subordinates and 96 supervisors in China, we found that when leaders adopt paradoxical behavior, employees are more likely to engage into promotive voice behavior; however, employees’ prohibitive voice behavior is reduced when their leaders adopt paradoxes in leadership behavior. Additionally, psychological safety mediates the relationship between paradoxical leadership and promotive voice behavior. Further, team size has significant interaction effects with psychological safety on promotive voice behavior.

Zhongyong, as a typical Confucian thinking model, is related to employees' voice behavior. In this research we explored the relationship between Zhongyong thinking and employees' voice behavior, and examined the mediating effect of psychological safety in this relationship. Survey data were collected from 218 part-time Master of Business Administration students from two Chinese universities. The structural equation modeling results demonstrate that Zhongyong thinking was positively related to psychological safety, and that psychological safety was positively related to voice behavior. Further, psychological safety mediated the Zhongyong thinking–voice behavior relationship. These results suggest that organizations can encourage voice behavior by enhancing employees' Zhongyong thinking and by boosting their perception of psychological safety in the workplace.

This study, grounded in the extant literature on voice behavior, investigates the relationship between trust in leadership and employee voice behavior, with a particular focus on the mediating role of psychological safety. Utilising SPSS for statistical analysis, the research examines several key relationships within this framework. The findings of this investigation are multifaceted. Firstly, the study elucidates the impact of leadership trust on psychological safety within organizational contexts. Secondly, it explores the direct influence of leadership trust on the voice behavior of organizational members. Thirdly, the research sheds light on how psychological safety affects the propensity for voice behavior among employees.Moreover, this study contributes to understanding psychological safety as a mediating factor in the relationship between leadership trust and voice behavior. The results suggest a positive correlation: as the level of trust in leadership increases, there is a corresponding enhancement in the psychological safety experienced by organizational members. This heightened sense of psychological safety, in turn, encourages a greater frequency of voice behavior among employees.The research posits a chain of influence whereby leadership trust fosters an environment of psychological safety, subsequently facilitating increased instances of voice behavior within the organization. These findings significantly impact understanding how leadership practices influence employee communication and engagement within organizational settings.

Despite the increasing amount of attention being directed toward corporate social responsibility, there are still some research gaps relating to its outcomes. This study explored the relationship of corporate social responsibility with voice behavior as well as the mediating role of psychological safety. Using data collected from 231 employees in China, we examined the hypothesized relationships via structural equation modeling. Results revealed that corporate social responsibility was positively related to psychological safety and that psychological safety was positively related to voice behavior. This suggests that psychological safety acts as an underlying mechanism that explains the effect of corporate social responsibility on facilitating voice behavior. Our findings indicate that CSR alone is insufficient to spur Chinese employees' voice behavior; rather, organizations should aim to improve employees' psychological safety.

This research enhances our current understanding of the effects of workplace spirituality on voice behaviors of male and female employees i) by examining the multiple underlying mechanisms of psychological safety and psychological empowerment and ii) by comparing the diverse use of these mechanisms across gender. Particularly, we posit that the strength of the two mechanisms varies across male and female in such a way that the impact of spirituality on females’ voice behavior primarily flow via psychological safety and for male employees, this effect mainly flows via psychological empowerment. The analysis of our theoretical model relies on two independent studies. Study-1 (n=331 employees) tested our model in the manufacturing sector whereas study-2 (n=255 employees) replicated the results in the service (banking) sector. The aggregate results obtained from both studies by using structural equation modeling in MPlus revealed (with some variations) that spirituality, directly and indirectly, influences the voice behaviors of both male and female employees. However, the direct effect of spirituality on female voice behavior was stronger than the male employees. Moreover, the specific indirect effects obtained from moderated mediation analysis in Mplus demonstrate that the indirect effect of spirituality on female voice behavior mainly flows via psychological safety whereas on male voice behavior via psychological empowerment. The results are discussed in terms of their implication for theory and practice.