Psychological safety, employee voice, and work engagement

Abstract

I examined the relationships among psychological safety, employee voice, and work engagement. Based on a literature review, I hypothesized that psychological safety would directly affect employees' engagement at work, and indirectly affect work engagement via employee voice. A validated survey was used to collect data from 153 employees of a large manufacturing company in China. The results of structural equation modeling offered support for the full mediating role of employee voice in the psychological safety–work engagement relationship. Employees who perceived psychological safety were more likely to exhibit voice behavior; employee voice, in turn, promoted work engagement. These findings extend prior research and shed light on how employees' psychological safety affects their work engagement. Discussion and implications of the results are presented.