Managers’ Perceptions of Employee Voice – A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Organisations increasingly depend on their employees’ insights to achieve organisational efficiency by optimising processes and solving problems. If employees share their knowledge, they do what the literature refers to as employee voice. The key prerequisite for organisations to benefit from employee voice is managers’ perceptions of this behaviour. Being the main recipient of voice, managers’ perceptions influence whether proposals are implemented or dismissed and whether employees are motivated to express voice in the future. Despite this important role, managers’ perceptions of voice have received little attention in research so far. Hence, research has called for identifying additional influencing factors. To address this research gap, 22 interviews were conducted with managers from 20 organisations in Germany. The findings demonstrate that managers’ valuations of voice are mainly influenced by the content of voice, the manner of communication, the employee, and the recipient. Regarding the endorsement of voice, especially a proposal’s feasibility and benefits matter to managers. Furthermore, the interviewed managers did not differentiate between promotive and prohibitive voice or between the valuation and endorsement of voice. Finally, managers’ perceptions of voice were either primarily influenced by facts or by the circumstances of the expression of voice. The study contributes to research on managers’ perceptions of voice and employees’ voice tactics.