Employee Voice Behavior Research Articles

IMPACT OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND THRIVING AT WORK ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF EMPLOYEES: MEDIATING ROLE OF VOICE BEHAVIOUR

Purpose – We investigated how thriving at work and ethical leadership affects the employee psychological well-being. Further, we also examined the mediating role of voice behaviour between thriving at work and employee psychological well-being as well as ethical leadership and employee psychological well-being. Research methodology – A quantitative research method was utilized to collect data from employees of a telecommunication company. SPSS and Process Macro were used for data analysis. Findings – Results demonstrated that thriving at work and ethical leadership are positively associated with employee psychological well-being. Furthermore, the employee voice behaviour acts as a mediator between thriving at work, ethical leadership and employee well-being. Research limitations – All of the data in this study were collected from single source i.e., employees of information technology industry and also specific to a metropolitan city like Lahore. Further, study has a very limited representation of the females. Practical implications – the findings suggest that organizations should create such an environment where managers are able to have positive verbal interactions with employees that may facilitate their well-being and makes them satisfied with their jobs. Originality/Value – This study is one of the first studies to investigate the association between voice behaviour, thriving at work, employee psychological as well as psychological well-being.

Narcissistic leadership and voice behavior: the role of job stress, traditionality, and trust in leaders

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of narcissistic leadership on employee voice behavior from the perspective of job stress, trust in leaders and traditionality in China.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey on 437 employees to assess their narcissistic leadership in Time 1. In Time 2, they measured their job stress, trust in leaders and traditionality. In Time 3, they assessed the voice behavior of these employees.FindingsNarcissistic leadership correlates positively with employees’ job stress, which mediates between narcissistic leadership and employee voice behavior. Trust in leaders negatively moderates the correlation between job stress and employee voice behavior, as well as moderates the mediation effect of job stress on the correlation between narcissistic leadership and employee voice behavior. In addition, traditionality positively moderates the correlation between job stress and employee voice behavior, as well as moderates the mediation effect of job stress on the correlation between narcissistic leadership and employee voice behavior.Originality/valueThis study establishes the impact of narcissistic leadership on employee behavior from the perspective of job stress, trust in leaders and traditionality.

Employee Voice Behavior In Organization: Measuring The Influence Of Voice Efficacy Towards Employee Voice Behavior/Abhijeet Singh Chauhan and Naveen Sharma

Employee Voice Behavior In Organization: Measuring The Influence Of Voice Efficacy Towards Employee Voice Behavior/Abhijeet Singh Chauhan and Naveen Sharma

Why Am I Willing to Speak Up? The Impact of Spiritual Leadership on Employee Voice Behavior.

The sustainability of organizations highlights the significance of inspiring employees, especially their inner lives or spiritual identities, and leaders play a vital role. Consistent with social cognitive theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the linking mechanisms and conditional processes underlying the relationship between spiritual leadership and employee voice behavior. Three-wave survey data were collected from 366 full-time employees and their line managers, and a moderated mediation analysis was performed. The results show that career success expectation fully mediates the relationship between spiritual leadership and employee voice behavior. Additionally, felt obligation is found to indirectly strengthen the effect of spiritual leadership on employee voice behavior via career success expectation. In light of the results, practical implications are provided for managers and future researchers to enhance the sustainability of organizations.

A comparative study of how social workers’ voice and silence strategies relate to organisational resources, attitudes and well-being at work

Summary This study sets out to investigate the potential differences between social workers using voice- or silence strategies in their experience of organisational resources, attitudes and health, and whether social workers moving between strategies (voice or silence) over time have a different experience of the same outcomes than those who stay with the same strategy group. The participating social workers (n = 1356) responded to two web-based questionnaires over a one-year period. Findings The results show that voice strategies are related to the experience of more positive organisational resources, more positive attitudes (greater job satisfaction and organisational commitment, but lower intention to exit) and more positive health (greater recovery, but less emotional exhaustion and stress symptoms) than those using silence strategies. The results also show that moving from silence to voice is related to the experience of increased organisational resources, more positive attitudes and more positive health at T2, while those moving from voice to silence reported the opposite. Applications The longitudinal approach applied in this study adds empirical evidence of the relationship between voice/silence and work-related attitudes, as well as health and well-being. The close relationship between organisational resources, employee voice behaviour and related individual outcomes regarding attitudes and health imply that Human Resources (HR) management has a lot to gain by developing and securing a voice-friendly and considerate climate in their organisations.

Belief in a Just World and Employee Voice Behavior: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Efficacy and Risk

In this research, we hypothesized that employees’ belief in a just world (BJW) would be positively related to their voice behavior, i.e., the expression of ideas or opinions with the intention of engendering organizational improvement or change, and that this relation would be mediated by perceived voice efficacy and perceived voice risk. To test these hypotheses, we collected self-reported data from employees in two different countries: China (N = 313) and Germany (N = 190). The results revealed a positive association between BJW and employee voice behavior in both samples. The two-mediator model was confirmed in the Chinese sample, while only perceived voice efficacy played a mediating role in the German sample. Possible reasons for these differences may be related to differences in cultural dimensions and education levels between the samples. The findings emphasize the importance of bolstering employees’ belief in justice and the organizational climate, which influence perceived voice efficacy and risk, as means to increase organizational voice behavior.

Power Distance Orientation, and LMX Quality on Workplace Voice in China

Employee voice behavior has been recognized as beneficial to organization. Moreover, in the ever-changing competitive business environment, the willingness of employees to offer useful information and ideas plays a critical role to business innovation and process improvement. However, employee voice is likely to involve a conflicting decision-making process since speaking up may put individual at risk while beneficial for organizational improvement. Therefore, voice research has attended much to the issue of how to facilitate employees to engage in workplace voice. Recently, contextual and cultural factors are found to affect significantly an employee’s beliefs about whether speaking up will be safe. From the social and cognitive perspective, these negative beliefs on voice are not easily eliminated due to the long-term experiences and socialization. Considering the tremendous influence of cultural and social factors on management, the voice phenomenon also need to reflect the differences between employees from various cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, the research domain of organizational studies is becoming more international and the country like China has been still undergoing profound transitions in institutional rules, values, and social norms. Even though achieving significant economic development, Chinese traditional value system as well as the socialist legacy present an institutional environment that is much different from what a typical Western organization would encounter. It is, therefore, unclear whether voice behavior researches done in the West have the similar effect on the organization in China Corporate culture grows out of the values held by organizational members which are shaped by national culture and societal ideology. Since the traditional Chinese culture stemming from Confucianism has been emphasizing hierarchical or status differences as well as harmonious interpersonal relationships, voice behavior is likely to be perceived as inappropriate and insecure. In countries like China with strong self-protective motives and a hierarchical culture along with the communist-influenced ideology, people tend to refrain from their voice behavior because of various concerns and fears related to psychological safety, such as not wanting to be viewed as challenging authority or avoiding embarrassing others. The main interest of this study is to investigate how Chinese traditional cultural values are related to employees’ concerns about voice behavior. As culturally dictated thinking style rooted in Confucian philosophy, Zhong-Yong, or ‘middle-way’ thinking emphasizes “equilibrium” and “harmony” as the rule of thumb to deal with and get along with other people. Power distance is also an important theoretical factor in terms of cultural values. As many Asian countries have been found to show high power distance culture, Chinese people especially influenced by Confucianism, greatly value the importance of the group and hierarchical relationships within an organization. Along with this reason, this study hypothesized the possible inhibiting effects of Chinese traditional cultural values, Zhong-Yong thinking and power distance orientation, on voice behavior. Since one of central issues in voice behavior research is how to facilitate an employee to engage in workplace voice, we also postulate LMX quality as a moderator in expectation of improving employees’ concerns about voicing. Employees may calculate the cost of speaking up by assessing favorability of social context such as supportive relationships with their supervisors. Leadership behavior such as LMX might have a positive impact on voice behavior in China where relationship orientation is highly advocated as compared with other countries. The potential benefits of the close relationship with the supervisor may give employees a reciprocal sense of obligation such as the active voice behavior for their organization.

The effects of facades of conformity on employee voice and job satisfaction

PurposeEmployee voice can improve organizational and individual performance. The purpose of this paper is to consider individuals’ evaluations of various features of their work situations. In particular, emotional exhaustion mediates the influence of facades of conformity on employee voice behavior and job satisfaction. This study examines a model in which facades of conformity negatively affects employee voice and job satisfaction through emotional exhaustion.Design/methodology/approachA total of 401 employer–employee dyads from a large manufacturing company and public organizations in Taiwan were surveyed. Two-wave data demonstrated a significant positive relationship between facades of conformity and its outcomes, mediated by emotional exhaustion.FindingsThe results reveal that facades of conformity relates to employee voice and job satisfaction. Additionally, emotional exhaustion is an important mechanism in the relationships between facades of conformity and employee voice and facades of conformity and job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this study obtained data from employer–employee dyads, practical constraints prevented complete consideration of issues in the work domain, such as colleagues, which might influence employees’ voice and job satisfaction.Practical implicationsEmployee who exhibit facades of conformity in an organization may work smoothly for short periods of time, the emotional response triggered by the conflict between their external behavior and their inner values can further reduce their voice behavior and thus affect the organization’s overall performance voice refers to an employee providing challenging advice to contribute to the success of an organization.Originality/valueThe findings have implications for the understanding of employees’ conditions and its associations with social issues in the workplace.

ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMPLOYEE VOICE BEHAVIOR

This study uses a systematic quantitative research approach to identify the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and innovation through the moderating effect of employee voice behavior (EVB). This study focuses on employees of Pakistani medium and large enterprises and implies that there is a positive and significant relation between EL and innovation and similarly between EL and EVB. Current study concludes that EVB also partially mediate the relationship between EL and innovation, which means that there are other factors mediating their relationship about which further research needs to be done. It can be concluded from this paper that the firms having entrepreneurial leadership ability in their employees and having EVB in organizational culture are usually good at innovation.

Board-level employee representation (BLER) and workers’ propensity to leave the organization

Drawing on the social exchange theory and the theories on employee voice behavior, we hypothesize a positive relationship between workers’ participation in the strategic decisions making, through t...

The Impact of Organizational Scandals on Employee Voice Behaviors

Drawing upon voice behavior theory, we develop and test a model that specifies the use of voice behavior in organizational scandals. We conducted a study on the ‘dieselgate’ scandal of Volkswagen a...

Receiving Gossip from Your Leader? Leader Gossip and Employee Voice Behavior

The present research demonstrates how and when the leader gossip valence influences employee voice behavior. Based on the Self-Concept Enhancing Tactician model, we suggest that leader’s gossip to ...

The relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice: The roles of error management climate and organizational commitment

AbstractStudies have shown that voice could be utilized as an effective method to improve organizational effectiveness. This study explores the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behavior by focusing on the mediating role of the error management climate and the moderating role of the employee's organizational commitment. Analysis of data collected in three phases in China indicates that the error management climate partly mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior. Also, organizational commitment is found to moderate the relationship between the error management climate and voice behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Servant leadership effectiveness: do religious atmosphere and housing price matter? social information-processing Perspective

Leadership effectiveness is a result of the interaction between leadership style and the social and organizational environment. We draw on social information-processing theory and analyze how the interaction between servant leadership and the social environment (i.e., religious atmosphere and housing price in one region) influences employee behavior. We likewise measure geographic-proximity-based religious atmosphere and housing price variables on the basis of 25 geographically disparate branches of a company, including a sample of 82 supervisors and 351 employees. Multilevel analyses reveal that the interaction between servant leadership and religious atmosphere has a positive effect on employee helping behavior but not for employee voice behavior. Conversely, the interaction between servant leadership and housing price has a positive effect on employee voice behavior, but does not have such effect on employee helping behavior. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications on leadership research.

Can coaching leadership encourage subordinates to speak up? Dual perspective of cognition-affection

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the influencing mechanism of coaching leadership (CL) on employee voice behavior (VB) based on cognitive-affective system theory of personality (CAPS). Specifically, the study intends to build a model of psychological security (PS) and openness to change (OC) that mediate the relationship between CL and employee VB at an individual-level and group-level from cognitive-affective dual perspective.Design/methodology/approachCL, employee VB, PS and OC were assessed in an empirical study based on a supervisor–subordinate dyads sample of 287 employees and 72 team leaders from enterprises in Southern China.FindingsFrom CAPS theory perspective, the authors found that CL promotes employee VB and that PS and OC mediate the relationship between CL and VB.Practical implicationsResults underscore the importance of encouraging managers to engage in CL behaviors, which are conductive to enhancing employee PS and OC thereby improving employee VB. These results also highlight the significance of managerial attention to a secure voice atmosphere and the improvement of employees’ affective commitment to organizational change.Originality/valueThe research findings provide a significant contribution to the literature in that it shows PS and OC as crucial dual mediating mechanism through which CL influences VB. Moreover, this paper is one of the few studies answering the call to examine the effect of leadership at multiple levels.

High-commitment work systems and employee voice

PurposeAlthough scholars have suggested that employees often carefully consider social contexts before enacting voice, few studies have explored whether firms foster employee voice behavior by adopting a set of systematic HR practices, namely, high-commitment work systems (HCWS). By integrating the literature on HCWS and voice, the purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms of how HCWS utilization influences employee voice.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted multilevel analyses with HLM software to examine the research hypotheses. The authors collected data from a sample of 290 employees and 58 line managers from 11 software design and development firms in China.FindingsHCWS utilization positively affected employee-experienced HCWS which enhanced psychological safety and perceived organizational support, and in turn employee voice behavior. In addition, HCWS utilization positively influenced employee-experienced HCWS, and subsequently increased voice efficacy. However, contrary to the expectations, voice efficacy was not related to employee voice.Originality/valueThe study is the first to integrate research on HCWS and voice. By building on the theory of planned behavior, the authors provide new insights into the relationship between HCWS utilization and employee voice and inspire researchers to elucidate other explanatory mechanisms in this link.

Does Union Practice Improve Employee Voice? An Analysis from the Perspective of Planned Behavior Theory

As the representative and maintainer of employees’ rights and interests, union plays an important role in solving the actuality that employees won’t say a word even though their opinions and suggestions can make a difference. However, most of the existing studies only focus on the direct relationship between union practice and employee voice, and few scholars have explored the influence mechanism of union practice on employee voice. Guided by the three-pronged approach of the theory of planned behavior, we integrate the typical variables from previous studies on the influencing factors of employee voice, and establish the framework of the joint effect of psychological safety, voice efficacy and felt obligation for constructive change on employee voice, in order to reveal the black box” between union practice and employee voice. Based on the data of 368 employees in 46 enterprises from Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong provinces, this paper uses structural equation to test the research model. It arrives at the main findings as follows: union practice has a significant positive influence on employee voice, which means the higher the level of union practice is, the more inclined employees are to voice. In addition, psychological safety, voice efficacy and felt obligation for constructive change mediate the relationship between union practice and employee voice. That is to say, union practice can not only improve employees’ psychological safety by protecting their legitimate rights and interests, enhance employees’ voice efficacy through activities such as reflecting reasonable suggestions to the enterprise, freeing them from worries, but also inspire employees’ felt obligation for constructive change, so as to promote employee voice. This empirical research contributes to the literature in three important aspects. Firstly, it verifies the promoting effect of union practice on employee voice, enriches the research on the influencing factors of employee voice, and further confirms the theoretical value of union practice as an independent variable, providing some new ideas for the future research on employee voice behavior and union practice. Secondly, this study explains the specific process of union practice influencing employee voice from the perspective of planned behavior theory, making up for the lack of the influence mechanism between union practice and employee voice. Lastly, it promotes the integration of theories and achievements in the research fields such as labor relations, human resource management and organizational behavior, provides theoretical support for enterprises to strengthen the cooperation with union, and impulses the construction of harmonious labor relations.

How Does Leader Narcissism Influence Employee Voice: The Attribution of Leader Impression Management and Leader-Member Exchange.

Recently, the influence of leader’s personality traits on employee behavior has become an emerging research area. Leaders play a crucial role in any organization because team members look up to them for policy and behavioral guidelines. Based on the social exchange theory, this study is focused on the relationship of employee-perceived leader narcissism and employee voice behavior. Through the analysis of 239 questionnaires, we find that leader narcissism has a significant influence on the motivation of leadership impression management. The narcissistic leader uses impression management that is more likely to have self- serving purpose rather than pro-social motivation. This motivation impacts leader-member exchange (LMX) quality which influences employee voice behavior. This study has significant theoretical and practical implications as it is the first study that empirically verifies the stated relationship in this under-researched area.

Supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of psychological safety in the relationships among supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 268 employees, and 56 were their immediate supervisors, in three Egyptian companies belonging to footwear and headgear sector. Employees and their immediate supervisors provided data on separate questionnaires and different occasions; an identification number was used to match each employee’s questionnaire with the response of his/her immediate supervisor.FindingsThe results indicated that both supportive leadership and proactive personality had a positive and significant effect on voice behavior. In addition, the results showed that psychological safety fully mediated the relationships among supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by linking supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior. It clarifies how and why supportive leadership and proactive personality can stimulate voice behavior.

Supportive leadership and EVB

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between supportive leadership and employee voice behavior by examining the mediating role of employee advocacy, and the moderating role of proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachThe model was tested by using data that were collected from 402 supervisors, and 87 subordinates who were working in 6 firms belonging to the stone and Glass sector, in the Tenth Ramadan city, Egypt. The employees and their immediate supervisors provided data on separated questionnaires, and different occasions. Then, an identification number was used by the author to match each employee questionnaire with the response of his/ her immediate supervisor.FindingsThe results revealed that employee advocacy fully mediated the positive relationship between supportive leadership and employee voice behavior. Also, it also found that proactive personality moderated the relationship between supportive leadership and employee voice behavior, such that the relationship was stronger for people lower rather than higher in proactive personality.Originality/valueThis empirical paper provides preliminary evidence of the mediating effect of employee advocacy in the positive relationship between supportive leadership and employee voice behavior. The model extends the existing results by adding substantive moderate proactive personality to explain how the effect of supportive leadership on employee voice behavior.