It's Not What You Say, it's How Others Take it: Contextual Factors that Induce and Inhibit Voice

Abstract

The literature on voice has arrived at a consensus about several reasons why employees speak up or stay silent. However, management theory and organizational practices have not reached a complete understanding of how to encourage employee voice and maximize supervisor receptiveness. To broaden the view of voice, the presentations in this symposium address contextual factors that affect the voice process and voicer outcomes at different levels. Three presentations investigate contextual factors for voice within work groups while two presentations address voice within employee-supervisor dyads. Taken together, this symposium adds to the field’s understanding of voice by highlighting critical contextual factors — diversity, courage attributions, artificial intelligence tools, supervisor delegation to voicers, and supervisor self-reflections on employee objections — that shape voice outcomes for groups and employee-supervisor dyads. Bridging Team Perception Faultlines and Voice on Career Development: A Moderated Mediation Model Presenter: Ethan Burris; U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: Hong Yu; Teachers College, Columbia U. Presenter: Elizabeth McCune; Microsoft Corporation “I’d Speak Up if You Didn’t Make Me Step Up”: Voicer Regret Following Supervisor Delegation Presenter: Daniel Newton; U. of Iowa Presenter: Hudson Sessions; U. of Oregon Presenter: Chak Fu Lam; City U. of Hong Kong Presenter: David Welsh; Arizona State U. Taking it Personally: Supervisor Pride & Guilt in Response to Employee Moral Objections Presenter: Sophie Pychlau; U. of Oregon Presenter: Hudson Sessions; U. of Oregon Presenter: Michael Frankel; U. of Oregon Above and Beyond: Demonstrating the Additive Impact of Observer Perceptions of Courage Presenter: Evan Bruno; Darden Graduate School of Business Voice Solicitation Through Technology Presenter: Roshni Raveendhran; U. of Virginia Darden School of Business Presenter: Arthur S. Jago; U. of Washington, Tacoma Presenter: Nathanael Fast; U. of Southern California Presenter: Jonathan Gratch; U. of Southern California