No News Is Not Good News: The Mediating Role of Job Frustration in the Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Silence

Building on the affective event theory, we investigate the mediating role of job frustration in the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and employee silence. We suggest that job frustration induced by POP leads employees to become more passive in organizational participation, reflected in increased employee silence. Results from data collected from 459 employees of an Iranian organization indicate that POP has both a direct and an indirect effect on various employee silence motives. The study extends prior research by examining an affective mechanism linking POP to employee silence. The results suggest that frustration may be expressed silently in politicized work environments. The study attests to the need to explore the role of context-relevant discrete emotion in organizational phenomena. It also points to the need for organizational leaders to identify the emotional undercurrent of employee silence and to reduce negative politics in organizations.

Applying Green Human Resource Practices toward Sustainable Workplace: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

The significant need to achieve business sustainability calls for a new business perspective grounded on leaders’ abilities and the effective execution of green human resource management (GHRM). This study aims to emphasize the role of ethical leadership and GHRM in moving organizations toward sustainability. GHRM supports companies to match their corporate strategies to the environment mainly in the presence of ethical leaders who can walk the talk and the provision of adequate practices and training by HRM to foster a working environment, where employees can exhibit creativity, passion, and positive behaviors towards sustainability. Specifically, this research studies the impact of ethical leaders via GHRM and harmonious environmental passion on employees’ green behaviors using a quantitative method in which a dyadic approach (supervisor–employee) was employed to collect data from two sources through a structured questionnaire from non-profit organizations in Lebanon. The research hypotheses were tested using Partial Least-Squares–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed a significant impact of ethical leadership on employees’ green behaviors. In addition, GHRM and harmonious environmental passion mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ green behaviors. Besides, it was noticed that green creativity strengthened the association between ethical leadership and GHRM, while a psychological green climate strengthened the association between GHRM and employees’ green behaviors. The study has practical implications for leaders and policymakers who are apprehensive about business sustainability.

How Ethical Leadership Prompts Employees' Voice Behavior? The Roles of Employees' Affective Commitment and Moral Disengagement

Previous literature has demonstrated that ethical leadership could predict employees' voice behavior. However, it's not clear how to heighten these positive effects of ethical leadership on employees' voice behavior. Building on the AET and moral disengagement studies, we developed an integrated model. A three-wave field study (N = 232) investigated the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior by focusing on the mediating role of employees' affective commitment and the moderating role of employees' moral disengagement. Our matched data analysis results indicated that: (1) employees' affective commitment partly mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employees' voice behavior. In addition, employees' moral disengagement moderated (2) the effect of ethical leadership on employees' affective commitment and (3) the effect of employees' affective commitment on voice behavior, similarly, (4) the indirect effect of ethical leadership on employees' voice behavior via employees' affective commitment. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Linking authentic leadership, moral voice and silence—A serial mediation model comprising follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy

Authentic leadership is widely considered a positive form of moral leadership that emphasizes a leader’s self-awareness, self-concordance, and modeling of self-regulatory behaviors. It is expected that authentic leaders foster moral employee behavior. However, empirical evidence for this assumption with a clear focus on the moral domain is still rather scarce. Furthermore, little is known about mediating mechanisms, especially pertaining to self-regulation of followers. Our research focused on two important facets of moral employee behavior: voice and silence. We (a) examined relationships between authentic leadership, moral voice, and two major forms of moral silence (quiescent and acquiescent) and (b) tested follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy as self-regulatory mechanisms in a serial mediation model. We conducted a cross-sectional study with employees from different organizations ( n = 295). As expected, analyses indicated that authentic leadership is positively related to self-reported voice and negatively to self-reported silence on moral issues. Pertaining to the outcomes quiescent moral silence and moral voice, results revealed a serial mediation effect via constructive cognition and moral efficacy. Furthermore, unique indirect effects of each mediator were found. Thus, authentic leadership can enhance moral behavior mediated by follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy. Based on these insights, new interventions for overcoming silence and promoting voice in organizations can be designed.

Does leader integrity facilitate employee voice? A moderated mediation model of perceived risk and leader consultation

Purpose

This study draws on uncertainty management theory to advance our understanding of the relationship between leader integrity and employee voice.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data in China by surveying 274 supervisor-subordinate dyads at two different points in time. In addition to the direct relationship between leader integrity and employee voice, they also examined the moderating effect of leader consultation and the mediating effect of perceived risk of voice.

Findings

The authors found that leader integrity had a positive effect on employee voice, and perceived risk of voice mediated this relationship. They also found that leader consultation moderated the relationship between leader integrity and employee voice, as well as moderating the mediating role of perceived risk of voice.

Originality/value

Although prior research has examined the relationship between leadership and voice, it has not clearly explicated the effects of leader integrity on voice. In addition, the findings of this study regarding the moderating role of leader consultation, and the mediating role of perceived risk of voice, offer novel insights regarding the nature of the relationship between leader integrity and employee voice.

The Mediating Effect of Perceived Stress and Moderating Effect of Trust for the Relationship Between Employee Silence and Behavioral Outcomes

Employees withholding their opinions is pervasive in organizations. However, the individual outcomes of employee silence have not been frequently investigated. Previous studies have found that there are detrimental effects of employee silence and building on this research stream, the study viewed perceived stress as an underlying mechanism linking employee silence to task performance and deviant behavior. Moreover, this study explored the moderating effect of interpersonal trust in the relationship between employee silence and perceived stress. Using a sample of 231 white-collar employees from China, this study found perceived stress to mediate the relationships between employee silence and task performance and deviant behavior. Also, coworker trust was found to moderate the relationship between employee silence and perceived stress. As coworker trust moderated the relationship, supplementary analyses further found mediated moderation for the model.

Construct proliferation in leadership style research

Given the steady increase in new leadership models and approaches introduced to the field, we provide a systematic review on the topic of construct proliferation in the leadership style literature. Construct proliferation suggests that newly designed constructs are too similar to existing ones and, consequently, lack discriminant validity. In our review, we tackle the issue of construct proliferation from two perspectives. First, we present explanations and evidence indicating construct proliferation. Then, we take the opposing stance and provide arguments (as well as empirical evidence) against it. This comparison results in a discussion in which we provide cues for future leadership style research that builds on the realization that we need a more nuanced awareness of where construct proliferation exists and where it does not.

Is our knowledge of voice and silence in organizations growing? Building bridges and (re)discovering opportunities

This article has three objectives. Firstly, we seek to demonstrate the relevance of voice and silence – that is, whether employees contribute or withhold information, ideas, views and/or concerns at work – for the sustainable development of individuals, organizations and societies. Our second objective is to identify emerging (and enduring) issues – conceptual, theoretical and methodological – that have not yet been adequately addressed in voice and silence research. These issues include the relationship between voice and silence, how they may manifest in organizations, their manifold antecedents inside and beyond organizational boundaries, their potentially positive and negative effects for internal and external stakeholders, and methodological questions. The third objective is to propose opportunities for addressing these issues with the ultimate aim to build a broader and more integrative approach to the nature of silence and voice and their antecedents and consequences. These opportunities include a multi-level model specifying elements and processes leading to individual and collective voice and silence, approaches to voice and silence that have received little attention in organizational research so far, and methodological developments that might reveal new facets of voice and silence. Based on these elaborations, we derive avenues for practitioners who are concerned with promoting voice and preventing/overcoming silence in organizations.