The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 17 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Employee Voice and Silence
Open accessAbstract
When employees voluntarily communicate suggestions, concerns, information about problems, or work-related opinions to someone in a higher organizational position, they are engaging in upward voice. When they withhold such input, they are displaying silence and depriving their organization of potentially useful information. In this article, I review the current state of knowledge about the factors and motivational processes that affect whether employees engage in upward voice or remain silent when they have concerns or relevant information to share. I also review the research findings on the organizational and individual effects of employee voice and silence. After presenting an integrated model of antecedents and outcomes, I offer some potentially fruitful questions for future research.
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Citations
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Self-citationAn Exploratory Study of Employee Silence: Issues that Employees Don’t Communicate Upward and Why*
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Self-citationPsychological Antecedents of Promotive and Prohibitive Voice: A Two-Wave Examination
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Sherf, E. N., Parke, M. R., & Isaakyan, S. (2021) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2018.1428 · Cited by 349
Why and When Leaders’ Affective States Influence Employee Upward Voice
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Li, A. N., Liao, H., Tangirala, S., & Firth, B. M. (2017) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000215 · Cited by 188
Lee, S. E., & Dahinten, V. S. (2021) · Journal of Nursing Scholarship · doi:10.1111/jnu.12689 · Cited by 164
“Organizational literature has highlighted the importance of leadership to psychological safety and employee voice behaviors (Edmondson & Lei, 2014; Edmondson, 2018; Morrison, 2014; Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006).”
BackgroundAlingh, C. W., van Wijngaarden, J. D. H., van de Voorde, K., Paauwe, J., & Huijsman, R. (2019) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007163 · Cited by 150
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When Is Silence Golden? A Meta-analysis on Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee Silence
Hao, L., Zhu, H., He, Y., Duan, J., Zhao, T., & Meng, H. (2022) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-021-09788-7 · Cited by 132
Liang, J., Shu, R., & Farh, C. I. C. (2019) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2325 · Cited by 124
How and when peers’ positive mood influences employees’ voice.
Liu, W., Tangirala, S., Lam, W., Chen, Z., Jia, R. T., & Huang, X. (2015) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038066 · Cited by 110
Silence is not Golden: Motivating Employee Voice through Inclusive Leadership
Jolly, P. M., & Lee, L. (2021) · Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research · doi:10.1177/1096348020963699 · Cited by 102
Keeping it between us: Managerial endorsement of public versus private voice.
Isaakyan, S., Sherf, E. N., Tangirala, S., & Guenter, H. (2021) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000816 · Cited by 100
Gao, A., & Jiang, J. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01484 · Cited by 93
Amplifying Voice in Organizations
Bain, K., Kreps, T. A., Meikle, N. L., & Tenney, E. R. (2021) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2018.0621 · Cited by 91
Transformational leadership and employee voice: a model of proactive motivation
Zhang, G., & Inness, M. (2019) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-01-2019-0017 · Cited by 54
Jada, U. R., & Mukhopadhyay, S. (2019) · Personnel Review · doi:10.1108/pr-11-2017-0365 · Cited by 52
Liu, X., Mao, J., Chiang, J. T., Guo, L., & Zhang, S. (2023) · Applied Psychology · doi:10.1111/apps.12432 · Cited by 39
Sun, S., Burke, M., Chen, H., Tan, Y. (., Zhang, J., & Hou, L. (2022) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726721992849 · Cited by 34
Temporary employment and voice behavior: the role of self‐efficacy and political savvy
Qian, X., Li, Q., Song, Y., & Wang, J. (2020) · Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.1111/1744-7941.12232 · Cited by 31
Voice in non-traditional employment relationships: a review and future research directions
Oyetunde, K., Prouska, R., & McKearney, A. (2022) · The International Journal of Human Resource Management · doi:10.1080/09585192.2021.1964093 · Cited by 30
Strategic or Silencing? Line Managers’ Repurposing of Employee Voice Mechanisms for High Performance
Mowbray, P. K., Wilkinson, A., & Tse, H. H. M. (2022) · British Journal of Management · doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12469 · Cited by 29
Why Am I Willing to Speak Up? The Impact of Spiritual Leadership on Employee Voice Behavior
Yang, X., Meng, Y., Qiu, Y., & Feng, Y. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02718 · Cited by 24
Wang, G., Li, J., Liu, H., & Zaggia, C. (2025) · Educational Management Administration & Leadership · doi:10.1177/17411432221143452 · Cited by 26
On Democratic Organizing and Organization Theory
Battilana, J., Beckman, C. M., & Yen, J. (2025) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.1177/00018392251322430 · Cited by 26
Zhao, D., Wu, J., & Gu, J. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-020-00985-w · Cited by 24
Prohibitive Voice as a Moral Act: The Role of Moral Identity, Leaders, and Workgroups
Mesdaghinia, S., Shapiro, D. L., & Eisenberger, R. (2022) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-021-04862-9 · Cited by 14
Tian, X., & Chae, H. (2023) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs13020180 · Cited by 12
Tian, X., Chae, H., Song, D., & Zhang, Y. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-17500-5 · Cited by 10
“Voice behavior is a discretionary and proactive communication process in which employees express ideas, suggestions, or concerns aimed at improving organizational effectiveness 27,28 .”
Metadata
- Authors
- Morrison, E. W.
- Venue
- Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2014-03-21
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 173-197
- ISSN
- 2327-0608 (ISSN-L)
- 2327-0616
- OpenAlex
- W2022669491
- Cited by
- 1,595
- References
- 17
- FWCI
- 13.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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