Perceived leader behavioral integrity and employee voice in SMEs travel agents: The mediating role of empowering leader behaviors

Abstract

This paper investigates how perceived leader behavioral integrity and empowering leader behaviors stimulate employee voice at SMEs travel agents in Egypt. Data were collected from 500 frontline employees. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) was employed to test the hypotheses. The findings confirmed that perceived leader behavioral integrity significantly impacted empowering leader behaviors and employee voice. Empowering leader behaviors positively influenced employee voice. Moreover, the results showed that empowering leader behaviors mediated the relationship between perceived leader behavioral integrity and employee voice. Finally, there were no differences between family and non-family businesses in most of the relationships studied.