I will speak up if my voice is socially desirable: A moderated mediating process of promotive versus prohibitive voice.

Abstract

Employees are likely to speak up if they perceive high efficacy and low risk associated with such behavior, that is, if they perceive voice is socially desirable. Drawing on socially desirable responding (SDR) theory, we reason that individual value on power distance and supervisory delegation are related to the agentic motive for SDR, and that these 2 factors interact to influence employees' perceived efficacy of voice. We also identify individual value on superficial harmony and group voice climate, which are both relevant to the communal motive for SDR, jointly affect perceived risk of voice. Furthermore, by influencing perceived efficacy and perceived risk, these interactive forces would be differentially related to promotive versus prohibitive voice. Data from 66 middle managers and 262 of their direct reports in 5 high-tech firms provide considerable support for our hypothesized moderated mediation model. Supervisory delegation weakens the negative relationship between power distance and perceived efficacy of promotive voice, and the indirect relationship between power distance and promotive voice via perceived efficacy. In contrast, group voice climate weakens the positive relationship between superficial harmony and perceived risk of prohibitive voice, which mediates the indirect relationship between superficial harmony and prohibitive voice. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings in organizational settings.