Leader Member Exchange and Creative Idea Endorsement: The Role of Supportive and Challenging Voice

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate why speaking out is not viewed positively in certain instances, but, at times, doing so results in both management support for the pitched proposals and improved interpersonal correlations for individuals doing so. Data was collected from two sources: employees and their supervisors of a telecommunication services organization in Indonesia. The data collected from 367 subordinates and 98 supervisors was then analyzed for simple regression and mediation with Mplus. We found that managerial response to employees’ creativity depends on the type of voice exhibited by the employees (challenging vs. supportive). We found that for employees who show their concerns with a challenging form of voice, managers are less likely to establish quality relationships (LMX) and endorse their ideas. However, when managers find employees engaged in supportive forms of voice, they will likely establish quality relationships (LMX) with them and endorse their ideas. Further, LMX mediated these relationships, but in different ways—that is, a challenging voice may be detrimental to the development of quality relationships, but managers may endorse those creative ideas; however, a supportive voice may be helpful in developing quality relationships, but it may not help in the endorsement of their creative ideas. This study contributes to the research on voice behavior by highlighting the significance of managers' assessments of reasons attributed to employees' voices.