Too Close to Speak Up? How Group Cohesion and Status Conflict Affect Group Voice

Abstract

Although group network characteristics significantly influence a group’s capability to exchange and absorb knowledge by speaking up group members’ opinions, previous research on voice behavior has not yet fully addressed the social and relational factors in work groups that affect group- level voice. Specifically, in line with the “dark side of social capital” argument, this study examines the effects of group cohesion (i.e., network density) on group voice behavior, and further investigates when and how the effects occur. In addition, we believe these effects vary based on the group’s perception of status conflicts. Using data from 55 work groups, we found an inverted U-shaped relationship between group density and group voice behavior. Moreover, it was observed that the status conflict moderated the inverted-U effect of group density on group voice, such that: when status conflict is high, 1) overall level of group voice was reduced, 2) group voice turned to decrease faster on the downward side of the inverted-U curve. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of these results with relation to effective group management.