The (un)speaking self: an identity-based model for employee voice and silence

Abstract

The literature on employee voice and silence has typically explored these behaviors as being motivated by calculative-instrumental purposes (what will I gain/lose if I volunteer information?). I argue that voice and silence are social-functional behaviors that are embedded within everyday interactions at work, and I draw on social identity theory to propose an identity-based model of employee voice and silence (how does speaking up affect my definition of who I am?). The presented model explains how individuals can volunteer information or remain silent by preserving or restructuring their sense of self in the face of identity threats. I also explore the conditions for each identity-based speaking behavior and offer contributions to both the Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations literature on employee voice and silence.

“The Exorcist”: a grounded theory on how individuals avoid unethical requests at work

“…Most people have moral self-definitions that include certain characteristics, such as "honest", "correct" or "fair" (Pan et al, 2019). However, by adopting an unethical action that confronts these definitions of the self, the individual may experience an identity threat (Yang and Zhang, 2021;Gomes and Felix, 2019), which tends to have negative consequences for self-esteem (Leavitt and Sluss, 2015;Felix, 2020aFelix, , 2020b and increases the chances of ethical choices. Nevertheless, depending on a particular action's plasticity and symbolism, the influence of dishonest behavior on self-concept maintenance theory may not be so obvious.…”

“…The literature on symbols at work indicates that 70%-90% of employees use individual symbols to represent their identities; thus, they help individuals communicate to others who they are and how they want to be seen (Felix and Cavazotte, 2019). Because in this study, as in the literature on moral psychology and business ethics, we explore how symbols can be actively used by individuals to avoid unethical requests, our definition is distinct from that which emphasizes organizational symbols (Ravasi et al, 2019;Schnackenberg et al, 2019;Felix, 2020aFelix, , 2020b.…”