Employee Voice Behavior Research Articles

The Structure of Voice Efficacy and its Role in the Formation Mechanism of Employee Voice Behavior

As one representative kind of extra-role and challenging-promotive discretionary behavior, employees’ voice behaviors are valuable for employees themselves and the organization as a whole, especially in the complex economic society in the modern times. Nowadays, there are multitudes of scholars who had paid more attention to this important organizational phenomenon, and explored the formation mechanisms under this behavior preliminarily, in varieties of perspectives. Although these findings were inspiring, the cognitive decision-making processes underlying the behavioral engagement had remained relatively unexplored. Since Chiaburu et al.(2008) had first mentioned about this topic, and assumed an initial framework explaining discretionary behaviors including voice in particular using cognitive processes model, there were few scholars met this. This study attempted to fill this gap. On the foundations of the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986) and Conservation of Resources Theory(Hobfoll, 2002), after inducing and clarifying the definition of voice efficacy, this study explored the role that voice efficacy played in the cognitive mechanism of voice behavior. The research was consisted of two sub-studies which sampled from private-firm employees and joint-venture employees in Yangtze Delta area of China. Study 1, according to the advice of Kish-gephart et al.(2009), 26 random samples of employees were interviewed to collect critical incidents of voice efficacy, and 14 items were collected. Then a questionnaire was made up of based on this 14 items. After the data survey, 3 items were deleted by item analysis procedure. Then, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with 188 samples, the results showed that voice efficacy was one-dimension construct containing 7 optimal items. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the other 188 samples further supported this construct. Study 2 probed the effects of voice efficacy in the formaiton mechanism of employee voice behavior. Based on 401 employee-supervisor matched samples, the results indicated that, general self-efficacy was positively related to voice behavior. In addition, voice efficacy mediated the positive relationship between general self-efficacy and voice behavior. Besides, the study also found that, under the condition of high job availability employee will conduct more voice behaviors. But job availability negatively moderated the positive relationship between voice efficacy and voice behavior. This outcome corroborated what conservation of Resources Theory purported, namely, resources are particularly salient in the context of loss (Hobfoll, 2002). The results of study 2 also supported the construct validity of what study 1 found, namely, voice efficacy. The implications, limitaions and future orientations of the study were discussed as well.

Psychological contract breaches and employee voice behaviour: The moderating effects of changes in social relationships

Guided by social exchange theory, this study found support for the prediction that the relationship of psychological contract breaches to voice behaviour (both constructive and aggressive) would be moderated by changes in leader–member exchange and coworker exchange over time. Specifically, the positive relationship between psychological contract breach and aggressive voice behaviour was weakened when employees had experienced increases in leader–member exchange during the preceding 8-month period. In addition, the relationships of psychological contract breaches with constructive and aggressive voice were also moderated by changes in coworker exchange over time. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of improving the quality of relationships with superiors and colleagues as a means of mitigating breaches of psychological contracts with the organization as a whole.

Why and When Leader’s Positive Emotion Promotes Employee Voice Behavior

Although researchers have argued that employees often carefully examine social contexts before speaking up, the role of leaders’ emotion has received little attention. Our goal of this research is to address this important issue from an Emotion-as-Social-Information perspective by exploring the effects of leaders’ positive emotion on employees’ voice behavior. By collecting data of 641 daily interactions from 81 leader-employee dyads using the experience sampling method (ESM), we found that leaders’ positive emotion was positively related with employee voice. Further, such a relationship is through employees’ psychological safety via both emotional contagion and signaling mechanisms. Moreover, the effects of both emotional contagion and signaling mechanisms were stronger when leader-member exchange relationship was weak. These findings highlight the important role of leaders’ emotion in voice and also provide insights for when employees choose to speak up to leaders.

Why Offering Participative Opportunities Does Not Necessarily Facilitate Speaking Up

The present study demonstrates how a new construct called harmony-oriented implicit voice beliefs regulates the relationship between participative decision making and employee voice behavior. Employing a contextualized research strategy, we developed a valid measure for this new construct. We examined the hypothesized relationships using a two-wave data collected from a sample of 173 subordinates and their immediate supervisors from a Chinese firm. Our results showed that harmony-oriented implicit voice beliefs negatively moderated the relationship between participative decision making and prohibitive voice. Further, team cooperative goal further exacerbated this negative moderating effect. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

"Developments in Voice Behavior Research: Dimensions, Antecedents, and Outcomes"

Although proactive employee behaviors have been discussed in the management literature for over half a century, recent research in this area has paid particular attention to the importance of employee voice behavior. Interest in voice behavior, or “speaking out and challenging the status quo with the intent of improving the situation,” has increased because of the potential benefits that this behavior is expected to have on organizations and those working within them. However, several questions still remain about the nature of employee voice behavior and its antecedents and consequences. Within this context, this symposium is designed to address the following questions: (1) are there multiple dimensions of employee voice behavior, and if so, what are they and what are their effects?; (2) what are the antecedents of these different forms of voice and are they the same for all dimensions?; and finally (3) are there alternative means of obtaining support for employee voice that help ensure that this behavior results in positive outcomes, while avoiding negative side effects? The three presentations in this symposium address these questions using data gathered in experimental and field research. Presenters will discuss the implications of their findings for management scholars and practitioners.

APPLYING UNCERTAINTY MANAGEMENT THEORY TO EMPLOYEE VOICE BEHAVIOR: AN INTEGRATIVE INVESTIGATION

Drawing on uncertainty management theory, this study integrates justice research with the elaboration likelihood model and considers employee voice behavior as a function of 3 (interpersonal, procedural, and distributive) facets of justice perceptions in combination. Specifically, a positive relationship is hypothesized between interpersonal justice and employee voice behavior, which is buffered by high procedural justice. This 2‐way interaction effect is also examined to determine whether it would be mitigated by low distributive justice. Results from a sample of 395 manager–employee dyads provide support for these predictions. Furthermore, results from a supplementary analysis show that the 3‐way interaction effect on employee voice behavior was more pronounced for those who had a high feeling of uncertainty (i.e., those with a shorter job tenure or occupational tenure). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Voice behavior and work engagement: the moderating role of supervisor‐attributed motives

Understanding employee voice behavior is a crucial aspect of organizing for high performance. In this paper, we extend previous studies and examine the consequences of voice behavior and boundary conditions of supervisor‐attributed motives. Data for the sample was collected from 206 supervisor–subordinate pairs from a variety of companies in Taiwan. Hierarchal regression analysis was performed to test our model. The results show that voice behavior was positively related to leader–member exchange (LMX), and LMX was positively associated with work engagement. Supervisor‐attributed motives moderate the relationship between voice behavior and LMX. Specifically, voice behavior may more strongly influence LMX when supervisors label voice behavior as being more prosocial and less motivated by impression management.

Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior.

The article contained a production-related error. In Table 5, the four values in the rows for Study 1 Prosocial motives and Study 1 Constructive voice should have been shifted one column to the right, to the Direct and Total Performance evaluations columns. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Although employee voice behavior is expected to have important organizational benefits, research indicates that employees voicing their recommendations for organizational change may be evaluated either positively or negatively by observers. A review of the literature suggests that the perceived efficacy of voice behaviors may be a function of characteristics associated with the (a) source, (b) message, and (c) context of the voice event. In this study, we manipulated variables from each of these categories based on a model designed to predict when voice will positively or negatively impact raters' evaluations of an employee's performance. To test our model, we conducted 3 laboratory studies in which we manipulated 2 source factors (voicer expertise and trustworthiness), 2 message factors (recommending a solution and positively vs. negatively framing the message), and 2 context factors (timing of the voice event and organizational norms for speaking up vs. keeping quiet). We also examined the mediating effects of liking, prosocial motives, and perceptions that the voice behavior was constructive on the relationships between the source, message, and context factors and performance evaluations. Generally speaking, we found that at least one of the variables from each category had an effect on performance evaluations for the voicer and that most of these effects were indirect, operating through one or more of the mediators. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Ethical Leadership

Ethical Leadership

"Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior": Correction to Whiting et al. (2011).

"Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior": Correction to Whiting et al. (2011).

Authentic Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: A Multi-Level Psychological Process

This study investigates the psychological process of how authentic leadership affects employee voice behaviors. The theoretical model of this study proposes that employee positive mood and leader–member exchange (LMX) quality mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and voice behavior, while the procedural justice climate moderates the mediation effects of positive mood and LMX quality. Multi-level data from 70 workgroups of a real estate agent company in Taiwan support all hypotheses. This study reveals the cross-level effects of authentic leadership, and provides practical suggestions to help employees express their opinions in organizations.

Employee Voice Behavior: Integration and Directions for Future Research

Employee Voice Behavior: Integration and Directions for Future Research

Employee Voice Behavior: Integration and Directions for Future Research

Within organizations, employees continually confront situations that put them face to face with the decision of whether to speak up (i.e., voice) or remain silent when they have potentially useful information or ideas. In recent years, there has been a rapidly growing body of conceptual and empirical research focused on better understanding the motives underlying voice, individual, and situational factors that increase employee voice behavior, and the implications of voice and silence for employees, work groups, and organizations. Yet this literature has notable gaps and unresolved issues, and it is not entirely clear where future scholarship should be directed. This article, therefore, is an attempt to review and integrate the existing literature on employee voice and also to provide some direction for future research.

Employee voice behavior: A meta‐analytic test of the conservation of resources framework

SummaryAlthough voice (i.e. expressing change‐oriented ideas and suggestions) has frequently been investigated as a way for workers to reciprocate to their employers for the positive treatment they receive, much less is known about how workers use voice to deal with stress. This study takes a conservation of resources perspective to examine the relationships among workplace stress, voice behavior, and job performance. We first examined the strength of relationships of three major groups of workplace stressors and strains (job based, social based, and organization based) with voice behavior. We then examined the relationships of voice behavior with performance variables (e.g. in‐role performance and creativity) to investigate how voice may help workers preserve or accumulate resources to enhance their performance. The meta‐analytic findings presented here provide support for a negative relationship between workplace stress and voice and a positive relationship between voice behavior and performance outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

支持性组织氛围对员工建言行为的影响机制及理论基础<br>The Impact Mechanism and Latent Theories between Supportive Climate and Employee Voice Behavior

支持性组织氛围对员工建言行为的影响机制及理论基础<br>The Impact Mechanism and Latent Theories between Supportive Climate and Employee Voice Behavior

Employee Voice Behavior

In contemporary organizations, competitive advantage can come from ideas employees communicate to supervisors for improving processes, products, and services. One approach to studying employee communications with supervisors is voice behavior. In this research, the authors consider leader— member exchange (LMX) and the individual cultural value orientation of power distance (PD) as predictors of voice. Two studies, conducted in different countries, demonstrate the unique and combined effects of these predictors. In Study 1, conducted in the United States, LMX was positively related to voice, PD was negatively related to voice, and PD made more of a difference in voice when LMX was high. In Study 2, conducted in Colombia, LMX and PD were both related to voice but did not interact. The authors discuss the implications for theory and practice.

Leader personality traits and employee voice behavior: Mediating roles of ethical leadership and work group psychological safety.

The antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership were examined in a study of 894 employees and their 222 immediate supervisors in a major financial institution in the United States. The leader personality traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to direct reports' ratings of the leader's ethical leadership, whereas neuroticism was unrelated to these ratings. Ethical leadership influenced followers' voice behavior as rated by followers' immediate supervisors. This relationship was partially mediated by followers' perceptions of psychological safety. Implications for research on ethical leadership and means to enhance ethical behavior among leaders and nonleaders are discussed.

Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open?

We investigate the relationships between two types of change-oriented leadership (transformational leadership and managerial openness) and subordinate improvement-oriented voice in a two-phase study. Findings from 3,149 employees and 223 managers in a restaurant chain indicate that openness is more consistently related to voice, given controls for numerous individual differences in subordinates’ personality, satisfaction, and job demography. This relationship is shown to be mediated by subordinate perceptions of psychological safety, illustrating the importance of leaders in subordinate assessments of the risks of speaking up. Also, leadership behaviors have the strongest impact on the voice behavior of the best-performing employees.