ASK AND YOU SHALL HEAR (BUT NOT ALWAYS): EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGER CONSULTATION AND EMPLOYEE VOICE

The literature on employees’ voice is characterized by 2 influential perspectives on its antecedents—1 that focuses on the importance of managerial behaviors and the other that emphasizes the role of employees’ internal motivational states. In this study, we integrate these perspectives and examine the proposition that (a key managerial behavior) consultation—that is, the extent to which the manager is seen to solicit and listen to suggestions on work issues from the employees, enhances employees’ upward voice by increasing their perceived influence at work (an important motivational state). Using multisource survey data from 640 nurses and their managers, we found that managers’ consultation was positively related to employees’ upward voice, with employees’ perceived influence acting as the mediator. We further delineate key moderators of this mediated relationship and discuss implications for theory and practice.     

EMPLOYEE SILENCE ON CRITICAL WORK ISSUES: THE CROSS LEVEL EFFECTS OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE CLIMATE

This study examined the cross-level effects of procedural justice climate on employee silence—that is, the intentional withholding of critical work-related information by employees from their workgroup members. In a survey-based study of 606 nurses nested within 30 workgroups, we found that procedural justice climate moderated the effects of individual-level antecedents of employee silence. Specifically, when procedural justice climate was higher, the effects of antecedents that inhibit employee silence (e.g., workgroup identification, professional commitment) were stronger. Implications for research and practice are discussed.