IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v30y2019i3p447-466.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Managers Do Not Seek Voice from Employees: The Importance of Managers’ Personal Control and Long-Term Orientation

Author

Listed:
  • Elad N. Sherf

    (Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599)

  • Subrahmaniam Tangirala

    (Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742)

  • Vijaya Venkataramani

    (Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742)

Abstract

Voice, or employees’ upward expression of challenging but constructive concerns or ideas on work-related issues, can play a critical role in improving organizational effectiveness. Despite its importance, evidence suggests that many managers are often hesitant to solicit voice from their employees. We develop and test a new theory that seeks to explain this puzzling reluctance. Voice is a distinctive behavior that involves escalation of opinions, ideas, or concerns by employees to their managers with the expectation that they would respond by making systemic changes in their teams. Hence, we argue that managers are likely to solicit voice more when they perceive requisite discretion and influence (personal control) to effect changes in their teams. Additionally, because voice-driven change can cause short-term disruptions and bring about benefits typically only over time, we propose that managers act on their personal control to solicit more voice when they also possess adequate long-term orientation. We find support for our arguments across four studies using experimental as well as correlational methods. We discuss the conceptual and practical implications of our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Elad N. Sherf & Subrahmaniam Tangirala & Vijaya Venkataramani, 2019. "Why Managers Do Not Seek Voice from Employees: The Importance of Managers’ Personal Control and Long-Term Orientation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 447-466, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:30:y:2019:i:3:p:447-466
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2018.1273
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1273
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2018.1273?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frances J. Milliken & Elizabeth W. Morrison & Patricia F. Hewlin, 2003. "An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence: Issues that Employees Don’t Communicate Upward and Why," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1453-1476, September.
    2. Ethan R. Burris & James R. Detert & Alexander C. Romney, 2013. "Speaking Up vs. Being Heard: The Disagreement Around and Outcomes of Employee Voice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 22-38, February.
    3. Matthew S. Kraatz & Edward J. Zajac, 2001. "How Organizational Resources Affect Strategic Change and Performance in Turbulent Environments: Theory and Evidence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(5), pages 632-657, October.
    4. Amy C. Edmondson, 2003. "Speaking Up in the Operating Room: How Team Leaders Promote Learning in Interdisciplinary Action Teams," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1419-1452, September.
    5. Graeme Currie & Stephen J. Procter, 2005. "The Antecedents of Middle Managers’ Strategic Contribution: The Case of a Professional Bureaucracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7), pages 1325-1356, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xue Tong Dong & Yang Woon Chung & Jeong Kwon Yun, 2023. "The Mediating Effects of Anxiety and Happiness and the Moderating Effect of Social Network Services for Employee Silence and Psychological Withdrawal Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    2. Chen, Chen & Wang, Tao & Jia, Ximeng, 2023. "Short-termism in financial decision-making: Uncovering the influence of managerial myopia on corporate financial asset allocation through MD&A textual analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Parke, Michael R. & Tangirala, Subrahmaniam & Sanaria, Apurva & Ekkirala, Srinivas, 2022. "How strategic silence enables employee voice to be valued and rewarded," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Zhenzhen Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Jie Li, 2022. "The Curvilinear Relationship between Employee Voice and Managers’ Performance Evaluations: The Moderating Role of Voice Consensus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maynes, Timothy D. & Podsakoff, Philip M. & Podsakoff, Nathan P. & Yoo, Amber N., 2024. "Harnessing the power of employee voice for individual and organizational effectiveness," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 283-298.
    2. Xue Tong Dong & Yang Woon Chung & Jeong Kwon Yun, 2023. "The Mediating Effects of Anxiety and Happiness and the Moderating Effect of Social Network Services for Employee Silence and Psychological Withdrawal Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    3. Ying Xue & Xiyuan Li & Hao Liang & Yuan Li, 2020. "How Does Paradoxical Leadership Affect Employees’ Voice Behaviors in Workplace? A Leader-Member Exchange Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Chin-Yi Shu & Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, 2015. "Guan-Xi, Loyalty, Contribution And ‘Speak-Up Behavior: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) as Mediator and Political Skill as Moderator," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 3(2), pages 54-73.
    5. Thomas W. H. Ng & Lorenzo Lucianetti & Dennis Y. Hsu & Frederick H. K. Yim & Kelly L. Sorensen, 2021. "You Speak, I Speak: The Social‐Cognitive Mechanisms of Voice Contagion," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(6), pages 1569-1608, September.
    6. Teresa Galanti, 2021. "Risk Management and Learning Climate in Emergency Contexts: A Qualitative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-13, May.
    7. Li-Yueh Lee & Veasna Sou, 2013. "The Antecedents of Innovation Climate: Cross-Level Mediation Perspectives," Diversity, Technology, and Innovation for Operational Competitiveness: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Technology Innovation and Industrial Management,, ToKnowPress.
    8. Anna Paolillo & Jorge Sinval & Sílvia A. Silva & Vittorio E. Scuderi, 2021. "The Relationship between Inclusion Climate and Voice Behaviors beyond Social Exchange Obligation: The Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Andrea Furlan & Ambra Galeazzo & Adriano Paggiaro, 2019. "Organizational and Perceived Learning in the Workplace: A Multilevel Perspective on Employees’ Problem Solving," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 280-297, March.
    10. Wageeh A. Nafei, 2016. "Organizational Silence: Its Destroying Role of Organizational Citizenship Behavior," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(5), pages 57-75, May.
    11. Wang Ro Lee & Suk Bong Choi & Seung-Wan Kang, 2021. "How Leaders’ Positive Feedback Influences Employees’ Innovative Behavior: The Mediating Role of Voice Behavior and Job Autonomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    12. Alisher Tohirovich Dedahanov & Abdulkhamid Komil ugli Fayzullaev & Odiljon Sobirovich Abdurazzakov & Dilshodjon Alidjonovich Rakhmonov & Oyniso Zakirova, 2022. "Paternalistic Leadership Styles and Employee Voice: The Roles of Trust in Supervisors and Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    13. Hengwei Zhu & Muhammad Kamran Khan & Shakira Nazeer & Li Li & Qinghua Fu & Daniel Badulescu & Alina Badulescu, 2022. "Employee Voice: A Mechanism to Harness Employees’ Potential for Sustainable Success," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-20, January.
    14. Yiming Wang & Yuhua Xie & Mingwei Liu & Yongxing Guo & Duojun He, 2024. "Silent Majority: How Employees’ Perceptions of Corporate Hypocrisy are Related to their Silence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(2), pages 315-334, November.
    15. Wen Wu & Fangcheng Tang & Xiaoyu Dong & Chunlei Liu, 2015. "Different identifications cause different types of voice: A role identity approach to the relations between organizational socialization and voice," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 251-287, March.
    16. María del Carmen Triana & Toyah L. Miller & Tiffany M. Trzebiatowski, 2014. "The Double-Edged Nature of Board Gender Diversity: Diversity, Firm Performance, and the Power of Women Directors as Predictors of Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 609-632, April.
    17. Guo, Liang & Decoster, Stijn & Babalola, Mayowa T. & De Schutter, Leander & Garba, Omale A. & Riisla, Katrin, 2018. "Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital and the mediating role of fear and defensive silence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 219-230.
    18. Xiaoyan Su & Yating Liu & Nancy Hanson-Rasmussen, 2017. "Voice Behavior, Supervisor Attribution and Employee Performance Appraisal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    19. David Whiteside & Laurie Barclay, 2013. "Echoes of Silence: Employee Silence as a Mediator Between Overall Justice and Employee Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 251-266, August.
    20. Wu, Frances & Dixon-Woods, Mary & Aveling, Emma-Louise & Campbell, Anne & Willars, Janet & Tarrant, Carolyn & Bates, David W. & Dankers, Christian & Mitchell, Imogen & Pronovost, Peter & Martin, Graha, 2021. "The role of the informal and formal organisation in voice about concerns in healthcare: A qualitative interview study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:30:y:2019:i:3:p:447-466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.