How do employees engage in voice behavior despite adversity? Understanding the formation and outcomes of voice resilience from the perspective of achievement goal

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.02395

Abstract

Abstract:

With the increasing uncertainty of the environment, avoiding organizational risks and improving organizational effectiveness by merely relying on the wisdom of managers become increasingly difficult. In this context, employee voice plays an increasingly important role in organizational development. In recent years, employee voice behavior has gradually become a hotspot in organizational behavior research. Theoretical and empirical studies reveal that voice behavior can prompt risks, promote innovation, and offer a powerful guarantee for the sustainable development of organizations.

This paper puts forward new questions based on the phenomenon of voice in the workplace, which has not received much attention in the literature thus far. Previous studies on voice predominantly show that when voice-inhibiting factors, such as unsupportive leaders and unsafe environment, are present, employees will reduce their voice behavior and remain silent. However, not all employees will give up their opinions because of environmental obstacles, and some employees are even encouraged to display stronger voice behaviors when facing adversities. What makes an employee speak out in an adversity? What is the mechanism that underlies this phenomenon? What are its outcomes? These questions have not been adequately answered in the extant literature.

To fill these gaps, this paper designs three related studies around “voice resilience”. Study 1 combines the cutting-edge findings of employee resilience research to reconceptualize the notion of voice resilience and develops an effective voice resilience scale based on these findings. Study 2 explores the formation mechanism of voice resilience based on achievement goal theory and adopts the new scale developed in Study 1 to empirically test the relationship between three achievement goal orientations and voice resilience. Study 3 explores the impact of voice resilience on the subsequent voice behavior of employees and the voice endorsement of leaders and empirically tests the hypothesized relationship using the new scale developed in Study 1.

The theoretical innovation of this study is mainly reflected in three aspects. First, this study reveals that voice resilience is essentially a dynamic psycho-behavioral process that provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the voice of employees amid adversity. Second, this study deeply analyzes the impact of employee achievement goals on their voice resilience, thereby enriching the literature on the antecedents of voice resilience. Third, this study analyzes the effect of voice resilience on both employees and leaders, thereby extending the findings of previous voice resilience research.

Key words: voice behavior, voice resilience, achievement goals, subsequent voice behavior, voice endorsement

CLC Number:

B849: C93

WANG Yao, LUO Wenhao, HOU Liang. How do employees engage in voice behavior despite adversity? Understanding the formation and outcomes of voice resilience from the perspective of achievement goal[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2022, 30(11): 2395-2404.

Figures/Tables 1

References 57

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