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Silent Majority: How Employees’ Perceptions of Corporate Hypocrisy are Related to their Silence

Author

Listed:
  • Yiming Wang

    (Hunan University)

  • Yuhua Xie

    (Hunan University)

  • Mingwei Liu

    (Rutgers University)

  • Yongxing Guo

    (Hebei University of Technology)

  • Duojun He

    (Central South University)

Abstract

Extant studies of corporate hypocrisy have largely overlooked its implications for employees until recently. Drawing upon social information processing theory, we theorize the impact of corporate hypocrisy on employee silence—an employee behavior potentially detrimental to both organizations and society, as well as the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. We empirically tested our hypotheses with two studies. In Study 1, we found that corporate hypocrisy was positively related to employee silence through both employee cognitive trust and employee prosocial motivation. In Study 2, we revealed that consumer pressure weakened the mediating roles of employee cognitive trust and prosocial motivation, while regulatory pressure strengthened these roles. Overall, this study sheds light on whether, how, and when employees remain silent when they perceive corporate hypocrisy. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:195:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05647-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05647-6
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