Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at Work

Do not say a word! Conceptualizing employee silence in a long-term crisis context

“…--Insert Figure 2 about here--Our study found that fear is a key motivator for employee silence, not surprisingly as the literature has greatly explored this aspect (Brinsfield, 2013;Detert & Edmondson, 2011;Morrison & Milliken, 2000;Milliken, Morrison & Hewlin, 2003;Van Dyne, Ang & Botero, 2003). This fear intensified during the crisis; from low intensity fear (being labelled a 'troublemaker', consequences for performance appraisal, damaging a relationship), to high intensity fear (speaking up is dangerous).…”

“…At the first phase of the research, employees discussed fear as defensive silence (Brinsfield, 2013;Detert & Edmondson, 2011;Milliken, Morrison & Hewlin, 2003;Van Dyne, Ang & Botero, 2003) caused by a fear of the extrinsic consequences associated with speaking up. For example, our interviewees discussed how the fear of being labeled a 'troublemaker' and the consequences this would bring inhibited their voice at work.…”

“…These would be shaped by previous experiences or knowledge of colleagues' experiences, as well as their own evaluation of the economic situation with particular reference to their own job safety or insecurity. Therefore, the climate of silence concept (Morrison & Milliken, 2000) is relevant because it relates to 'widely shared perceptions among employees that speaking up about problems or issues is futile and/or dangerous' (p. 708), as well as the defensive silence concept which is based on a fear of extrinsic consequences associated with speaking up (Brinsfield, 2013;Detert & Edmondson, 2011;Milliken, Morrison & Hewlin, 2003;Van Dyne, Ang & Botero, 2003). In addition, a climate of fear has been widely recorded as an underlying reason for employee silence on different types of work issues (e.g.…”

Why and When Leaders’ Affective States Influence Employee Upward Voice

“…Most previous studies have investigated voice at the individual or group level and thus only focused on relatively stable personal, relational, or situational predictors of voice (Morrison, 2011(Morrison, , 2014. Although some scholars have discussed the episodic characteristics of voice (e.g., Detert & Edmondson, 2011;Detert & Treviño, 2010), little effort has been made to investigate voice empirically at the episode level. Our data showed that 61.6% of the variance of upward voice occurred at the episode level, which indicates that it is meaningful and important to examine voice as an episodic behavior in organizations.…”

“…In reality, even when facing the same leader, an employee may be more likely to speak up to the leader in some interaction episodes than in other episodes (Detert & Edmondson, 2011;Detert & Treviño, 2010). Some prior discussions, for example, have suggested that employees "read the wind" to discern whether a particular situation is favorable to sharing their suggestions, opinions, or concerns with leaders (Dutton, Ashford, Wierba, O'Neill, & Hayes, 1997;Milliken, Morrison, & Hewlin, 2003).…”