“Why our voices don’t count”: The employment experiences of neurodivergent employees through a double empathy lens

The study of employee voice in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across national contexts remains under-theorised and under-studied. This paper uses Kaufman’s integrative model of employee voice, and an exploratory study of 30 interviews with employees in non-unionised SMEs in the United Kingdom, Thailand and Nigeria, to compare the employee experience with voice, and the impact of this experience on voice behaviour at work. Findings show that the interaction between the external institutional context and internal SME context (organisational configuration, governance structure and internal contingencies in the employment relationship) impacts employee voice agency, the perceived levels of voice and, ultimately, employee voice behaviour. The paper contributes to employee voice theory by offering an analysis of voice determinants on voice behaviour specific to non-unionised SMEs from an international comparative employee perspective, presents these in an initial framework and explains how employees experience voice in small workplaces.

This article addresses the role of ‘employee voice’ in workplace partnership. Drawing on two organizational case studies from the UK’s aerospace sector, it analyses employee experiences of two key dimensions of worker participation in partnership environments: joint consultation and union representation. Specifically, it investigates what consultation and union representation actually mean for employees in the context of different union responses to employer-driven partnership agendas. The article finds predominantly negative patterns of employee experience and attributes this partly to management control strategies and the short-termist dynamic of British manufacturing capital.

Given the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry, firms must continuously improve to remain viable. Many innovations and improvements in service are driven by the experiences of employees on the front lines of service delivery, who have direct knowledge of what works and what does not in the day-to-day operation of a hospitality business. Unfortunately, research indicates that employees are not likely to speak up with opinions, ideas, and suggestions, behavior known as employee voice, unless they have some motivation to do so. Drawing on basic need satisfaction theory, we hypothesized and found that inclusive leader behaviors are associated with the satisfaction of followers’ basic needs for relatedness and competence. In turn, the satisfaction of these basic needs was associated with increases in employee self-reported voice behavior. Our findings provide important insights into the kinds of leader behaviors that may drive employee voice.

Purpose By acknowledging the importance of micro-influencers and all decision-making process stages, this study aims to explore the impact of perceived influencer’s credibility, impacted by the sponsorship absenteeism, on problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase and post-purchase. Additionally, the authors investigate the moderating role of trust level on the researched relationships. Design/methodology/approach This study focuses on 111 young Croatian consumers of cosmetic products. The authors analysed data with confirmatory factor and regression analyses. Findings This study reveals positive relationships between micro-influencers’ perceived credibility and all decision-making phases. The research results also show that the lack of sponsorship positively influences perceived credibility. Furthermore, results indicate that the trust level is an essential moderator for the relationships between perceived credibility and sponsorship and information search and buying stages. Research limitations/implications Limitations include the convenience sampling method and data collection at one point while also focusing on consumers from one country. Practical implications This study provides practical implications for companies outlining the marketing activities that should be considered in all stages of the decision-making process while recognising the attractiveness of micro-influencers for the buying experience. Originality/value This study fills gaps in the literature on micro-influencers credibility in general and particularly in the cosmetics industry. In addition, the study fills the gaps in the literature considering the impact of perceived micro-influencer credibility on all five decision-making process stages.

As a growing number of organizations are leveraging emerging technologies to optimize their operations to stay competitive, digital transformation has fast become an integral part of employee experience at the intersection of their psychological states and the workplace. However, employee experience with digital transformation is heterogeneous given the different approaches organizations take toward this initiative. We hence simultaneously consider both the nature of the digital transformation (i.e., automation versus augmentation) and the presence versus absence of employee voice mechanisms. Drawing from psychological reactance theory, we argue that employee experience of automation‐driven transformation will be more likely to engender psychological reactance, which in turn impacts important employee job attitudes, represented by job satisfaction, employment security, and turnover intention. We also argue that employee voice moderates this mediated relationship. Using data from two studies with different samples and research designs (an experimental design in Study 1 and a field survey in Study 2), the findings support our hypothesized relationships. The two‐study approach helps to enhance the validity of the research and demonstrate the generalizability of findings, thereby strengthening our contributions to the literature. Overall, the studies theoretically extend understandings of how employees respond to digital transformation by offering new insights into the psychological reactance mechanism. We also provide practical implications for business and practitioners seeking to manage digital transformation in ways that enhance desired employee job attitudes.

This paper examines how employees experience flexible workplace practices (FWPs), such as flex-time, in the context of small firms. Past research consistently documents that employees’ experiences vary according to whether or not the workplace culture is supportive of FWPs and work-life balance needs. Studies, however, typically use individual level data or focus on large companies. Little research has focused on the experiences of employees of small firms. Possibly, employees of small firms have somewhat unique experiences of FWPs because of the workplace context. Like past research, this paper considers how gender and age relations structure the workplace. Also taken into account are the control strategies that management employs over the workforce. Data are taken from a Canadian study on small information technology (IT) firms that employed between four and 21 individuals. A multiple case study of 17 firms is conducted using web-surveys, semi-structured interviews, case study reports, field notes, and HR policy documents. Three different workplace contexts emerged among study firms based on their flexibility and workplace culture with respect to time. Some of these workplaces reproduced hegemonic gender, age, and class expectations, whereas others somewhat challenged them. The three firm-types did not vary according to firm-specific characteristics, such as business specialization, but patterns with regard to age and gender characteristics of the owners and employees were evident. Employees’ experiences varied according to where they worked. The findings suggest that similar and different processes occur in small firms compared to the large companies often studied in the literature. Like large firms, small firms are not neutral or based on a consensus. Small firm employees, however, may be considerably more vulnerable.

The authors discuss voice from the perspective of employees. Employee experiences with voice vary across different voice regimes and also depend on the underlying purpose or motivation behind its use. In this chapter, the authors develop a matrix to categorize the disparate literatures on employee voice based on two dimensions: the normative intention or purpose of voice, and the phenomenon of interest under study. Based on this classification, they briefly review key developments across the different voice literatures. In particular, they highlight how much existing research on employee voice has fallen short in explicitly integrating the perspective and various interests of employees. They conclude by proposing avenues for future research.

The current study integrated emotion, specifically anticipated regret, into the decision process for employee voice. As a cognitively mediated emotion, anticipated regret is unique from previously studied voice factors (i.e., motivators and inhibitors) that influence risk judgments and voice decisions. Two studies utilizing an experimental moderated mediation design was used to examine the indirect influence of risk on voice intent through both anticipated voice and silence regret. In both studies, high-risk voice situations led to higher anticipated voice regret, lower anticipated silence regret, and decreased intent to voice compared with low-risk situations. Anticipated regret for engaging in voice was found to mediate the relationship between risk and voice intent in both studies, and also exhibited a significantly stronger indirect effect. This indicates that employees differentially weigh the two types of anticipated regret, especially for situations with greater risk. These findings were consistent across two voice scenarios and two samples, illustrating its robustness to different workplace contexts. Importantly, our study indicates that judgments of risk influence an employee’s anticipated emotions, leading to regret-averse behavior. In contrast to previous research, this study demonstrated that emotion-based factors do not always lead to rash or irrational decision-making. Instead, anticipated regret was integrated into the traditional, utility-based voice calculation and allowed individuals to augment their voice decisions by anticipating and acting upon their desired emotional outcomes. By jointly considering traditional voice factors and anticipated emotions, we provide a novel pathway for organizations to understand employee voice and silence.

Over the last two decades, organizations across a wide range of industries have increasingly started to discuss mindsets, or lay beliefs, about the fixedness or malleability of human attributes could shape employees experiences, performance, and thus organizations. These organizations build their approaches from initial research showing that the growth (vs. fixed) mindset shapes how managers evaluate their employees, how employees respond to challenges and setbacks in their environments, and how much trust and belonging they feel in organizations (Canning et al., 2020; Emerson & Murphy, 2014; Heslin & VandeWalle, 2008, 2011; Murphy & Reeves, 2019; Rattan & Ozgumus, 2019). Despite these encouraging insights, however, mindsets research in the workplace settings is still in its nascent stages. The purpose of this symposium is to feature new research that examines whether, how, and which mindsets shape important outcomes in the workplace, in order to more rigorously build a scholarship of mindsets in organizations. We believe that researchers in organizational behavior must seize upon this moment of engagement to accelerate the development of a substantial body of rigorous research on mindsets in workplace contexts. Inspired by the Academy of Management 2022 theme, “Creating a Better World Together,” these projects extend research and theory on how mindsets help individuals to overcome challenges in their careers and workplaces, as well as organizational leaders to foster a better workplace for the employees. By elucidating the processes with which mindsets shape previously understudied outcomes in the workplace, we hope to contribute to a fascinating new area of mindsets research that promotes human flourishing in organizations. Frugality Mindsets: Exploring Entrepreneurs’ Beliefs about the Nature of Resourcefulness Presenter: Jeffrey M. Pollack; NC State U. Presenter: Tim Michaelis; Northern Illinois U. Presenter: Joseph Billingsley; NC State U. Presenter: Jeni Burnette; North Carolina State U. Mindsets and Employee Experience in the Workplace Presenter: Eva Hsin-Lian Lin; London Business School Presenter: Aneeta Rattan; London Business School Support for Increasing Low-Wage Workers' Compensation: The Role of Fixed-Growth Mindsets Presenter: Shilpa Madan; Virginia Tech Presenter: Ramadhar Singh; Amrut Mody School of Management Presenter: Aneeta Rattan; London Business School Presenter: Krishna Savani; Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic U. Why Do American Workplaces Still Lack Paid Family Leave? The Role of Gender Role Mindsets Presenter: Ezgi Ozgumus; London Business School Presenter: Aneeta Rattan; London Business School

This study examined how transformational leadership affects work performance at Palestine's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, focusing on psychological empowerment. We conducted a descriptive study on 350 full-time employees. We took a systematic sample of 183 people from this group. A systematic questionnaire collected quantitative and qualitative employee experiences. SPSS was used to analyze the data using descriptive and deductive methods. Data patterns and linkages were identified and displayed in frequency distribution tables and visual graphics. The study found that psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance at the Palestinian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Psychological empowerment greatly enhances transformational leadership's influence on workforce performance. Organizations ought to educate leaders and empower their staff to improve performance. The research found that transformational leadership combined with psychological empowerment tactics significantly improves employee engagement and performance. This study fills gaps in the literature and expands our understanding of how psychological empowerment affects work performance. The findings support the study's assumptions and emphasize the relevance of leadership strategies that empower people psychologically. This method improves job performance and suggests empowerment-focused leadership solutions for organizational leadership and policy creation to boost workplace engagement and productivity.

This qualitative content analysis study explores the experiences of public sector employees’ decisions to share and not share their ideas with leadership, and how those decisions relate to their engagement states. We found that the relationship with supervisors can impact both employee voice and silence. Further, employee voice is impacted by the power of ideas and how the idea is crafter. And, employee silence was impacted by previous voice experiences and job insecurity. Last, we position that the employee voice/silence decisions are outcomes of the employee engagement state, compared to being a driver.

This article examines how employees respond to sexual harassment from customers in the workplace. Employing a qualitative method to facilitate a rich understanding, this study uses exploratory interviews with university students working in retail and hospitality in Australia to examine their experiences of customer-perpetrated harassment, the constraints they face in exercising ‘employee voice’, factors that structure and perpetuate ‘employee silence’, and the actions that employees take in this situation. Preliminary findings indicate that the employees face difficulty responding to customer-perpetrated sexual harassment due to the constraints of contextual factors, including working conditions, social norms, and the nature of sexual harassment as a workplace problem. While silence is the norm, some employees use informal voice, which has a limited impact because of the power differentials between employees and managers. Other employees use informal coping strategies, which this article coins as ‘buffering’. This research is important for understanding the experience of vulnerable employees and for providing insight into potential barriers to eliminate sexual harassment from customers in the workplace.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of COVID-19 on South Asian graduates’ employment experiences in Australia. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative exploratory research approach was adopted with in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 South Asian graduates who studied postgraduate courses in Australia, and these were used for data collection and analysed thematically. Findings The study results highlighted significant positive and negative impacts on employment experienced by this cohort. Positive impact includes gaining employment related to their studies, thus having stability in their employment; negative impact includes difficulties in gaining related-study employment, limited face-to-face networking opportunities and non-renewal of employment-related contracts. Originality/value While scholarly articles have focused on understanding the numerous employability-related challenges faced by international students and graduates from South Asian countries, this is the first paper that sets out to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted South Asian graduates’ employment experiences in Australia.

Workers in France enjoy strong legal protections of their rights, and they have developed organizational support through unions. However, Chinese immigrant workers suffer from adverse working conditions and extreme labor precariousness. Paradoxically, they rarely turn to legal institutions for help. Nor do they organize themselves in unions. Instead, they choose to endure their exploitation. Based on an ethnographic study of Chinese immigrant workers in a Paris suburb, this paper investigates different factors that may influence their preference for resistance strategies. This paper begins with an analysis of the typology of exploitation and later proposes two possible explanations for Chinese immigrant workers’ preferences. Finally, it explores the formation of migrant worker subjectivity.

Employee Voice as a constructive expression for organizations has become a big concern. Various studies were conducted to find the antecedents and consequences of employee voice. Perceived organizational support and empowering leadership offer a positive impact on employee behavior towards the organization. Various studies also attempt to examine the individual characteristics that lead to employee voice. Voice is expressed in the form of promotive and prohibitive behavior. The different forms of employee voice have attracted the attention of various researchers for further study. To continue several suggestions from previous research, this research measures the influence of Perceived Organizational Support and Empowering Leadership on both forms of Employee Voice with Proactive Personality as a moderator. The sample used was 145 employees in Indonesia with various company backgrounds. Data collection tool in the form of a questionnaire using a scale of Perceived Organizational Support with reliability 0,90; Empowering Leadership questionnaire with reliability 0,829; Promotive Voice with reliability 0,91; Prohibitive Voice with reliability 0.91; Proactive Personality with reliability 0,899. Data analysis uses partial least square with the help of SmartPLS 4.0. The results of this research indicate that Proactive Personality plays a role in explaining the influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Employee Voice (Promotive Voice). However, it does not moderate the effect of perceived organizational support on Prohibitive Voice, and it does not moderate the effect of Proactive Personality on Employee Voice. So, it can be concluded that proactive individuals with high Perceived Organizational Support will be more likely to voice their suggestions and ideas than those who are passive or less proactive.Employee Voice sebagai ekspresi konstruktif yang berharga bagi oranisasi telah menjadi perhatian besar. Berbagai penelitian dilakukan untuk menemukan anteseden dan konsekuensi yang dihasilkan employee voice. Perceived organizational support dan empowering leadership menawarkan dampak yang positif pada perilaku karyawan terhadap organisasi. Berbagai penelitian juga berusaha melihat karakteristik individu yang mengarahkan pada keterlibatan dalam employe voice. Voice diekspresikan dalam bentuk perilaku promotive dan prohibitive. Perbedaan bentuk employee voice menarik perhatian berbagai peneliti untuk ditelaah lebih lanjut. Untuk menindaklanjuti penelitian sebelumnya, maka pelitian ini mengukur pengaruh Perceived Organizational Support dan Empowering Leadership terhadap kedua bentuk Employee Voice dengan Proactive Personality sebagai moderator. Sampel yang digunakan adalah 145 karyawan di Indonesia yang bekerja di berbagai latarbelakang perusahaan dengan teknik sampling yang digunakan yakni convenience sampling. Alat pengumpulan data berupa kuesioner menggunakan skala survey of Perceived Organizational Support dengan reliabilitas 0,90; Empowering Leadership questionnaire dengan reliabilitas 0,829; Promotive Voice denan reliabilitas 0,91 dan Prohibitive Voice dengan reliabilitas 0.91; proacive personality dengan reliabilitas 0,899. Analisis data menggunakan partial least square dengan bantuan SmartPLS 4.0. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Proactive Personality berperan dalam menjelaskan pengaruh Perceived Organizational Support terhadap Employee Voice (Promotive Voice). Namun tidak memoderasi pengaruh perceive organizational support terhadap Prohibitive Voice, dan tidak memoderasi pengaruh Proactive Personality terhadap Employee Voice. Sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa individu yang proaktif dengan Perceived Organizational Support yang tinggi akan lebih menyuarakan saran dan ide mereka daripada mereka yang pasif atau kurang proaktif.