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Does the presence of voice imply the absence of silence? The necessity to consider employees’ affective attachment and job engagement

Knoll, M.; Redman, T.

Authors

M. Knoll

T. Redman



Abstract

Employer-sponsored voice practices (ESVPs) are a tool used by human resource management to increase voice behavior and fulfill legal requirements for employee participation and consultation. Conceptual papers question the usefulness of ESVPs, arguing that they may promote selective expression at work in the way that employees who use ESVPs suggest work-related process improvements (i.e., promotive voice) but still remain silent about issues that disturb smooth cooperation (i.e., cooperative silence). Prior research that treated voice and silence as being mutually exclusive cannot clarify how using ESVPs relates to voice and silence and under which conditions these links are particularly strong. Drawing from an employee survey in a UK branch of a multinational technology company, we apply a differentiated approach that treats voice and silence as separate behaviors and considers their specific motivators. Results from structural equation modeling show that even though employees use ESVPs and engage in voice, silence may still linger as a potential threat to performance and well-being. Moreover, moderator analyses revealed that affective attachment to the organization increased and job engagement decreased the occurrence of this potentially dangerous coincidence. Our findings provide evidence for the usefulness of more differentiated approaches to employee voice and silence and indicate that factors that facilitate voice, be they formal procedures or pro-organizational attitudes, might not suffice to overcome silence at work. We close with a discussion on ways to facilitate voice while reducing silence at the same time.

Citation

Knoll, M., & Redman, T. (2015). Does the presence of voice imply the absence of silence? The necessity to consider employees’ affective attachment and job engagement. Human Resource Management, 55(5), 829-844. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21744

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 10, 2015
Online Publication Date Sep 15, 2015
Publication Date Oct 1, 2015
Deposit Date Mar 13, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Human Resource Management
Print ISSN 0090-4848
Electronic ISSN 1099-050X
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 55
Issue 5
Pages 829-844
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21744
Keywords Silence, Voice, Engagement, Attachment, Management openness.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1413524