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.…”

The great pretenders? Individuals’ responses to threats to their remote worker identities

“…Applying this concept, it is possible to suggest that a remote worker identity is not only related to working remotely but also an aspect of one's life from which an employee defines him or herself. Identities have three main roles: they provide an individual with self-esteem (they lead to the creation of selfvalue), they are multiple (an individual does not see him or herself based on a single self-definition but rather in a few different ways), and they are dynamic (they can change over time) (Felix, 2020). In the following, we explain these properties in detail.…”

“…This concept refers to "an instance in which a participant perceived that the non-territorial workspace impeded his or her ability to affirm or display an aspect of identity" (Elsbach, 2003, p. 632). Despite the extensive knowledge of the consequences that identity threats generate for the worker concerning authenticity (Felix, 2020), performance (Steele, 2020), willingness to support organisational decisions (Nag et al, 2007) and intention to remain (Trevor and Nyberg, 2008), there is still a need to better understand how individuals handle resistance to their remote workers' identity. To expand the understanding of the negative stigma toward these individuals, this study aims to understand (a) how remote workers respond to threats to their identity and (b) the conditions in which each coping response tends to occur more frequently.…”

Sob pressão: como líderes reagem a ameaças à identidade relacionada a sua liderança paradoxal

“…Dadas as recentes evidências das consequências positivas da liderança paradoxal (p. ex., Sparr, Knippenberg, & Kearney, 2022;Sulphey & Jasim, 2022;Zhang, Zhang, Law, & Zhou, 2022) e o fato de que a identidade de um indivíduo cumpre a função de lhe prover autoestima e eficácia social (Felix, 2020b;Leavitt & Sluss, 2015), nota-se a relevância de melhor compreender as dinâmicas sociais pelas quais indivíduos vivenciam sua identidade de liderança paradoxal.…”