Prohibitive Voice Behavior Research Articles

How does AI awareness affect employees’ voice behavior in the service industry? A transactional theory of stress perspective

Purpose This study aims to explore the impacts of service industry employees’ AI awareness on their voice behavior while also considering the dual mediating roles of voice efficacy and job insecurity, as well as the moderating role of trait competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises data from a two-wave longitudinal survey of 203 employees in the service sector. This study examined all the hypotheses using Mplus 8.0. Findings This study confirms that service sector employees’ AI awareness has significant negative effects on both promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors. Voice efficacy can mediate the negative impact of AI awareness on promotive voice. Both voice efficacy and job insecurity can mediate the negative impact of AI awareness on prohibitive voice. Furthermore, employees’ trait competitiveness can weaken the negative impact of employees’ AI awareness on their voice efficacy. Practical implications Managers should first investigate employees’ AI awareness and then adopt targeted managerial strategies to promote their voice behavior. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature related to the consequences of AI awareness by linking AI awareness to employee voice behavior. Furthermore, this study deepens our understanding of how AI awareness affects employee voice behavior by proposing voice efficacy (i.e. the efficacy pathway) and job insecurity (i.e. the safety pathway) as key mediating mechanisms. Moreover, this study advances our understanding of when AI awareness influences employee voice behavior by identifying the moderating role of trait competitiveness.

Leader prohibitive voice behavior and its effects on followers through leader identification and political skill

Prohibitive voice behavior plays a crucial role in organizational effectiveness by signaling previously undetected issues. However, individuals paradoxically perceive this behavior as difficult due to its emphasis on identifying harmful factors, which may lead to misinterpretation and other undesirable social consequences. Based on social learning theory, this study aims to identify how the leader’s prohibitive voice behavior affects the follower’s prohibitive voice behavior. We employed a quantitative research design, collecting and analyzing questionnaires from 317 leader-follower dyads in 59 Chinese companies. To test our hypotheses, we used mediation and moderation analyses, hierarchical regression analysis, and the PROCESS macro. The results partially supported the research hypothesis, indicating that leader prohibitive voice behavior positively influenced follower prohibitive voice behavior. Additionally, leader identification mediated this relationship, whereas follower political skill moderated the mediated relationship. Notably, the mediation’s direction contradicted our hypothesis; the mediated effect through leader identification was pronounced when follower political skill was at lower levels. This study proposes that the leader’s role as a role model is crucial in motivating followers’ prohibitive voice behavior. It highlights the significance of considering followers’ political skills when they emulate their leader’s behavior. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, we discussed these findings and highlighted their implications for organizational behavior and leadership development.

A regulatory focus theory perspective on the dynamics between action and power.

Building on the strong consensus that the experience of power motivates individuals to take action, prior research postulates a positively reinforcing cycle wherein taking action leads to power, which in turn leads to subsequent actions. Applying regulatory focus theory, we differentiate between promotion-oriented and prevention-oriented actions to develop a within-person theory of when and why promotion-oriented and prevention-oriented actions should relate to power, and vice-versa. Across two studies, we find that when employees engaged in promotive voice behaviors, they were more likely to experience a sense of power; this effect was amplified for employees with trait promotion focus. When employees engaged in prohibitive voice behaviors, employees with trait prevention focus were less likely to experience a sense of power. The experience of power subsequently motivated employees to engage in promotive voice behaviors, but not prohibitive voice behaviors. By elucidating the differences between promotion and prevention pathways of action and power, our research challenges the notion that action and power positively reinforce each other. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between ethical leadership style and employees’ voice behavior (The mediating role of employees’ psychological empowerment)

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the ethical leadership style and the employees’s Voice behavior through the mediating role of psychological empowerment by applying to public sector banks in Greater Cairo (National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire). To achieve the objectives of the study, it was relied on taking a non probability sample to reach the target sample - and more specifically - the Snowball Sampling method, which had a size of 306 individuals with a response rate (80%). Research and test hypotheses through structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, depending on the program (Smart PLS v.3). The Experimental results of the research resulted in a direct positive impact of ethical leadership on both the psychological empowerment of employee (as a mediator variable), and the employee's Voice behavior (as a dependent variable) in its two dimensions, the promotive voice behavior, and the prohibitive voice behavior. The results also showed the direct positive effect of psychological empowerment on the promotive voice behavior, while there was no effect of psychological empowerment on the prohibitive voice behavior. The research presented several recommendations that emphasize the importance of taking into account the selection of individuals with ethical potential, in addition to creating an ethical work culture that motivates subordinates (as future leaders) to follow ethical behaviors and limit unethical behaviors, as well as the need to emphasize On what is called “Voice Safety” and “Voice Effectiveness,” which means that individuals feel safe (lack of fears resulting from anticipating negative outcomes related to individuals’ display of vocal behaviors)

The investigation of employee voice behavior – from the perspective of social media use in China

PurposeEnterprises use social media for their daily work. The use of social media in the workplace is crucial for social connections, the growth and evolution of the enterprise, and it opens up new avenues for voice behavior. Employee voice involves the expression of ideas or opinions towards enterprise and is beneficial for employee work and enterprise development. Extant studies of voice behavior usually focus on the leadership and employee factors. However, the internal mechanism of voice behavior, especially the interrelationship between different kinds of social media use and voice behavior has not been well investigated. To fill that research gap, this study analyzes the internal mechanism of voice behavior, taking the effects of social media use and social capital into consideration.Design/methodology/approachUsing structural equation model, this study collected data from employees using social media and analyzed the data using the software of Smartpls 3.0, SPSS and AMOS, in order to analyze the internal mechanism of voice behavior among employees.FindingsBased on social capital theory, this study investigates the relationship between social media use, social capital and voice behavior, and provides some insights into the mechanism of voice behavior. The social media use, social capital and voice behavior are divided into several kinds in order to clarify the internal mechanism of voice behavior more comprehensively. The empirical results show that: (1) Social media use for both work and social-related purposes could positively affect employees’ promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors. (2) Social capital mediates the relationship between social media use and voice behavior. (3) In the process of social media use influencing employees’ voice behavior, employees of different genders and ages show significant differences in social capital and voice behavior.Originality/valueThis study explored the internal mechanism of voice behavior, which could help to elicit the relationship between social media use and voice behavior. By integrating the roles of social capital, individual differences, this study could uncover the deep internal mechanism of employee voice behavior more comprehensively, broadening social capital theory and enriching the researches of voice behavior among employees.

The Impacts of Digital Leadership on Employee Voice Behaviors: The Mediating Roles of Employee Empowerment and Work Engagement

This study examines the impact of digital leadership on employee voice behaviors, which are critical for organizations’ success in digital transformation. Using social exchange theory as the model foundation, we conducted a two-wave survey to explore the content and attributes of voice behaviors. Our findings show that digital leadership plays a crucial role in promoting employee voice behaviors, indirectly affecting prohibitive and promotive voice behaviors through employee empowerment. We found that digital leadership increases prohibitive voice behavior through increasing work engagement rather than promotive voice behavior. Additionally, our study reveals that employee empowerment and work engagement do not mediate the chain of effects between digital leadership and promotive voice behavior. This research contributes to the literature on digital leadership, employee voice behaviors, and social exchange theory, providing new insights into the role of digital leadership in promoting employee voice behaviors.

Teachers’ voice behavior—Principal leadership‐driven or teacher self‐driven? Evidence from Taiwan

AbstractThis study aims to explore whether teachers’ voice behavior is triggered by the leadership of the principal or the teachers themselves. Two conceptual frameworks are proposed to guide this research. In addition, the current study analyzes separately two dimensions of teachers’ voice behavior, namely, promotive voice and prohibitive voice. Data collected from 884 teachers in Taiwan were analyzed to test the moderated mediation model. Results of the first conceptual framework revealed that under identity leadership, teacher agency moderated significantly the relationship of psychological empowerment with prohibitive voice, but not significantly with promotive voice. Findings of the second conceptual framework confirmed that under teacher agency, identity leadership did not significantly moderate the relationships of psychological empowerment with promotive voice and prohibitive voice. Most important, this study discovered that teacher agency is the main trigger for teachers exhibiting promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors. Finally, implications and limitations of this study are presented.

Understanding the impact of ethical leadership on followers' voice: mediation of moral identity and moderation of proactive personality

PurposeDrawing upon social learning theory (SLT), the study examines the consequences of ethical leadership on followers' voice behavior facets (promotive and prohibitive). The study tests hypotheses about the processing mechanism (moral identity) and the boundary condition (proactive personality) to understand these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe study collected time-lagged survey data through an online structured questionnaire from 182 respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to ensure the validity and reliability of the data. Moreover, structural equation modeling was run to test the hypotheses using AMOS.FindingsEthical leadership positively affects followers' promotive and prohibitive voice behavior via the psychological mechanism of moral identity. Proactive personality moderates the moral identity – promotive and moral identity – prohibitive voice relationships, such that these relations are stronger when the individuals are high on proactive personality.Research limitations/implicationsRobust evidence of a genuine cause-and-effect relationship may not be yielded owing to cross-sectional and self-reported data at the follower level of analysis. Future researchers can use dyadic, longitudinal and experimental designs to overcome these limitations. Organizations targeting to increase voice behavior can benefit from maintaining ethical leaders and proactive followers at the workplace.Originality/valueThe study significantly contributes to the ethical leadership and voice behavior literature. Ethical leadership enhances followers' promotive/prohibitive voice behaviors through their moral identity enhancement. The paper also confirmed that a proactive personality is a critical boundary condition in these relationships. Empirical evidence from the Eastern context has been added, and research directions have also been provided.

The effect of interpersonal conflict on employee behaviors: the role of perception of politics and competence uncertainty

PurposeConflict, between individuals and groups, in organizations is a common phenomenon and can have varied implication for the employee and the organization. This paper aims to determine whether experiencing interpersonal conflict drives employees to engage in prosocial behavior (prohibitive voice) and antisocial behavior (interpersonal deviance). Using Stressor–Emotion Model, Uncertainty Management Theory and Impression Management Motives, this study examines the relationship and explores competence uncertainty as a mediator and perception of politics as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a cross-sectional design where data collected is from 386 employees working in nine different public sector enterprises in India. Structural equation modeling using SPSS AMOS was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe results show that interpersonal conflict leads to both prohibitive voice behavior and interpersonal deviance. However, the mediating role of competence uncertainty is valid only for the effect of conflict on interpersonal deviance. Also, the perception of politics strengthens the positive relationship between interpersonal conflict and competence uncertainty.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first empirical studies to have validated prosocial and antisocial work behavior as outcomes of interpersonal conflict. Again, this is one of the first few studies to examine the mechanism through which interpersonal conflict impacts interpersonal deviance.

A chain mediation model of inclusive leadership and voice behavior among university teachers: evidence from China

As a vital mode in which teachers can participate in university management, voice behavior is an important way of enhancing the efficiency of organizational decision-making, promoting democratic management, and facilitating sustainable development in universities. Although previous studies have confirmed the positive impact of inclusive leadership on employees' voice behavior, the mechanism underlying this effect remains unclear. Therefore, based on the cognitive-affective system theory of personality, this study aims to examine the mediating effects of psychological empowerment and organizational identification on the relationship between inclusive leadership and voice behavior among university teachers. A total of 517 valid questionnaires were administered to university teachers in mainland China using a convenience sampling approach. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap testing were used to analyze the data, and the results reveal that inclusive leadership is positively related to teachers’ promotive and prohibitive voice behavior. This relationship is mediated by psychological empowerment and organizational identification, in which context a partial mediating effect is observed in the relationship between inclusive leadership and promotive voice and a full mediating effect is observed in the relationship between inclusive leadership and prohibitive voice. These findings can enrich the extant research on the impact of inclusive leadership in the field of higher education to a certain extent. Moreover, they provide a new perspective that can support an in-depth analysis of the mechanism underlying the effect of inclusive leadership and generate valuable practical insights into ways of stimulating voice behavior among university teachers.

Speak up to speed up innovation: servant leadership triggered innovative work behavior mediated through voice behavior

Purpose This study aims to unfurl the mediating role of facets of voice behavior. The study also unearths the relationship between servant leadership and voice behavior. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from follower manager dyads in two waves of data collection initiated after the completion of the preceding wave. The final sample size obtained was 312. Findings The study found servant leadership to be related to innovative work behavior and facets of voice behavior. The study also found promotive voice behavior and preventive voice behavior to be related to the innovative work behavior of employees. The study found promotive voice behavior and prohibitive voice behavior work as parallel mediators linking servant leadership to the innovative work behavior of employees. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to unearth mediation linking servant leadership to innovative work behavior through both facets of voice behavior.

Employee Well-Being and Voice Behavior on Customer Service Performance

Purpose: The significance of customer service in determining customer happiness has become one of the key indicators for online marketplaces in Indonesia, which experienced phenomenal growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims to determine how employee well-being affects customer service personnel performance along with the mediating effect of employee voice behavior. Design/Methodology/Approach: The analysis was examined using the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach in customer service within various online marketplaces in Indonesia. Findings: This study finds that psychological well-being has a positive and significant effect on job performance. In terms of mediation effects, promotive voice and prohibitive voice behavior were found to significantly mediate employee well-being on job performance, except promotive voice on psychological well-being. Research, Practical & Social implications: Employee performance in this study was measured as perceived by customer service and gathered through cross-sectional research. Originality/Value: This study extends the knowledge about the link between employee well-being and employee voice performance as well as the mediation generated in terms of promotive and prohibitive voice behavior.

Impact of Perceived Organizational Politics on Employee Voice behavior

Purpose – This research investigates the interplay of perceived organizational politics, psychological safety, and employee voice behavior in Punjab's banking sector, with a focus on the moderating effect of political skills. Additionally, it explores how perceived organizational politics influence psychological safety and its subsequent impact on employee voice behavior dimensions. Design/methodology/approach – This study surveyed 237 managers from commercial banks in Punjab, Pakistan, using convenience sampling and applied rigorous analytical methods, including confirmatory factor analysis, Harman's single factor test, reliability and validity assessments, correlation analysis, and multicollinearity checks. Hypotheses were tested in SPSS version 3.5 using the Hayes Macro Process (model no. 5) to examine various effects. Findings – Perceived organizational politics strongly impact promotive and overall employee voice behavior, but not prohibitive voice behavior. There's a negative link between perceived politics and psychological safety, while a positive connection exists between psychological safety and all employee voice behaviors, with mediation and significant moderation effects in most cases, except for prohibitive voice behavior. Research Implications – This study advances understanding of the interplay between perceived organizational politics, psychological safety, and employee voice behavior in the Punjab, Pakistan banking sector, offering insights for enhancing employee engagement and organizational performance in politically charged contexts. It also underscores the potential moderating impact of political skills. Originality/value – This research uncovers the interplay between perceived organizational politics, psychological safety, and employee voice behavior, with political skills as a moderating factor, contributing valuable insights to both academia and practitioners for fostering positive organizational environments.

Instilling employees with meaning to communicate: servant leadership affecting employee voice behavior through meaning

Purpose This study aims to analyze the connection between servant leadership and the promotive and prohibitive voice behavior of employees. In addition, this study explained how servant leadership affects promotive and prohibitive voice behavior through meaning. Design/methodology/approach For this study, data were collected from employee–manager dyads employed in the service sector. Each of the waves was initiated two months after the first wave. Finally, 286 useful responses were obtained. The collected data was analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings Servant leadership is related with meaning, promotive voice behavior and prohibitive voice behavior. Meaning is found to mediate the relationship between servant leadership and the two facets of voice behavior. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the mediating role of meaning relating servant leadership to promotive and prohibitive voice behavior.

Voicing Is Not Icing! The Role of Career Empowerment in Fostering Voice Behavior Through Career Security: A Time-Lagged Three-Wave Study

This study investigates how career empowerment predicts promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors and how career security intervenes in this relationship. The moderating role of bystanders’ direct and indirect intervention behavior is also tested between career security and voice behavior. Three-wave time-lagged data were collected from 267 non-managerial front-line banking employees to test the proposed model. The structural equation modeling (SEM) statistical technique was used for data analysis. The results showed that career empowerment significantly predicts promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors, both directly and indirectly. Furthermore, the direct intervention behavior of bystanders significantly moderates the relationship between career security and both types of voice behavior (promotive and prohibitive). Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

A Safety Huddle Intervention in In-Patient Surgical Units: A Mixed-Methods Study

Open communication about patient safety concerns is necessary to enable a learning environment where lessons can be learned to improve patient safety, but nurses often hesitate to speak up even in situations where their patients may be at risk. One way to create a safe environment for speaking up is through the use of unit-level daily huddles. This study aimed to assess the effects of a 12-week huddle intervention on nine unit, nurse and patient care outcomes and describe nurses’ experiences with the intervention. We used a single group, pre- and post-test mixed-methods design, with a dominant quantitative thread, and a final sample of 89 staff nurses. The intervention was conducted in four surgical units in a tertiary teaching hospital in Seoul, Korea. The intervention included two educational workshops for huddle leaders, two workshops for staff nurses, and 12-week huddles with coaching visits. We collected quantitative data on nine outcomes using online surveys before and after the intervention and qualitative data on nurse experiences of the intervention after the intervention. Paired t-tests were used for quantitative data analysis, and content analysis was used for qualitative data. We examined four unit-level outcomes (organizational learning, situation monitoring, mutual support, and speaking-up climate), three nurse-level outcomes (promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors and job satisfaction), and two patient care outcomes (patient safety and quality of care). Significant improvements were found in six of the nine outcomes. Findings from the qualitative data confirmed the benefits of the intervention but also identified challenges to huddle participation. Patient safety huddles can contribute to a learning environment by flattening hierarchies and encouraging nurses to speak up regarding safety issues. Leadership is a key in role modelling and creating the foundation for a more collaborative patient safety culture in healthcare organizations, for example, through the use of daily huddles.

Organizational adaptation to working from home in a crisis situation (COVID-19): the interaction between leaders' openness and followers' voice.

We investigated the effect of time spent at home on employee voice behavior and leadership openness during Covid 19. According to DeRue's adaptive leadership theory which offers an interactionist perspective to explain adaptive organizational behavior during an environmental crisis, we proposed that in the WFH's (work from home) reduced and limited communication space, leaders, who need more feedback, will encourage employees to express their opinions and will show more willingness to listen to them. Meanwhile, employees will ask more questions and make more suggestions to alleviate uncertainty and misunderstanding. Using an online questionnaire, a cross-sectional study (N = 424) has been carried out with employees working from home for a different amount of their working time during the pandemic. Data were analyzed using structural equation models (SEM) in which the effect of leadership openness on employee voice behavior was assessed through the mediation of affective commitment, psychological safety, and intrinsic motivation. The results showed that in the WFH situation, time spent in home office had a low but significant direct negative effect on promotive voice behavior. At the same time, leadership openness was growing with the amount of time spent at home. Leadership openness counteracted the negative effect of WFH on voice behavior: although leadership openness did not have a direct significant effect on voice behavior, it had a positive effect on psychological safety and work motivation which, in turn, influenced positively both promotive and prohibitive voice behavior. Employee's voice, for its part, further augmented leadership openness. In our research we could demonstrate the contingent nature and the mutual influence patterns and feedback loops of leaders-employees exchange. In the WFH situation the openness of the leader is growing with the amount of time spent at home and with the amount of promotive voice manifested by the employee. In consent with DeRue social interactionist adaptive leadership theory, a mutually reinforcing process of leadership openness and employee voice could be demonstrated. We argue that leadership openness is a key factor to motivate employee voice behavior during WFH.

Green human resource management, job embeddedness and their effects on restaurant employees’ green voice behaviors

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to test the interrelationships of green human resource management (GHRM), job embeddedness (JEM), green promotive voice behavior and green prohibitive voice behavior. It assesses JEM as a mediator of the link between GHRM and the aforesaid green voice behavioral consequences.Design/methodology/approachData obtained from the employees of 11 restaurants in Northern Cyprus were used to gauge the said relationships via the partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsGHRM boosts employees’ JEM. Employees high on JEM exhibit green promotive and prohibitive behaviors at elevated levels. JEM is the psychological mechanism relating GHRM to green work outcomes.Practical implicationsRestaurateurs should create an environment that enables employees to speak up and share their opinions on the problems and challenges concerning the environmental sustainability and green initiatives of the restaurant. In addition, they should develop and maintain good relations with employees via GHRM practices. These are important implications that would promote eco-friendly behaviors among employees.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on JEM, green promotive voice behavior and green prohibitive voice behavior as the neglected outcomes of GHRM. That is, there is no empirical evidence reporting that GHRM fosters employees’ JEM. This is also true for JEM as a mediator linking GHRM to the aforementioned dimensions of green voice behavior. With this stated in mind, this study fills in these gaps.

Cultural Value Orientation and Hospitality Employee Voice Behavior: The Moderating Role of Leader–Member Exchange (LMX)

This study examines the effects of three cultural values, namely long-term orientation, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance, on two types of employee voice behavior: promotive and prohibitive. It also investigates whether leader–member exchange theory (LMX) moderates the relationships between the three cultural values and two types of employee voice behavior. Using 387 hotel employees in Taiwan, the statistical results show that all three cultural values have positive effects on both promotive and prohibitive voice behavior. The results also indicate that LMX strengthens the positive relationships between the three cultural values and two types of employee voice behavior. Research and practical implications derived from the findings of this study are discussed, for the extant hospitality literature and Taiwanese hoteliers.

The effect of perceived organizational support on the prohibitive voice behavior of knowledgeable talents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring moderating role of the digitalization level.

This study focuses on the effect of perceived organizational support on the prohibitive voice of knowledgeable talents and on the factors influencing that voice during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Grounding our research in social exchange theory and the Chinese sociocultural background, we collected data from 714 questionnaires from universities in Zhejiang Province and analysize by linear regression and found, first, that perceived organizational support significantly increased the prohibitive voice of knowledgeable talents and, second, that in the relationship between perceived organizational support and the prohibitive voice of those talents, the level of digitalization level of an organization has a positive the effect of perceived organizational support on prohibitive voice behavior. This study enriches the theory of voice behavior, helps universities understand the behavioral patterns of knowledgeable talents and guides the cultivation of an atmosphere with prohibitive voice behavior.