Raised to Dissent: Family-of-Origin Family Communication Patterns as Predictors of Organizational Dissent

Abstract

This article extends Kassing's (1997, 1998) model of organizational dissent by evaluating the extent to which family-of-origin communication predicts upward (i.e., to superior) and lateral (i.e., to peer) dissent. Specifically, building from Koerner and Fitzpatrick's theory of family communication schemas, we predicted that family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) would serve as an individual factor that meaningfully predicts employee dissent. Significant findings emerged for upward dissent but not lateral dissent, with both a main effect for conformity orientation and interaction between conversation and conformity orientations. Decomposition of the interaction effect indicated that, as hypothesized, employees from pluralistic (high conversation, low conformity) families were more likely to express upward dissent than employees from consensual (high conversation, high conformity) families. This pattern of results informs both organizational practice and the theoretical intersection between family and organizational communication.