The Link between Employee Voice and Affective Commitment: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review aimed to explore the relationship between Employee Voice and Affective Commitment in literature. The researcher approached several databases, including Academic Search Complete, Business Search Complete, Business Search Premier, Science Direct and Google Scholar and found 235 relevant studies. Nine studies were selected for review after a vigorous process that rejected many studies because they were duplicated or not fitting in the inclusion criteria. The chosen studies were put in separate folders; Folder 1: Employee Voice, and Folder 2: Affective Commitment. A thematic process that included careful reading data, coding, identifying trends, establishing themes and confirming themes, was used on material separately. The researcher identified and confirmed “trust”, “employee/work engagement”, “innovation”, “positive relationship” and “communication” as core themes and further analysis of themes as done including sub-themes to validate the outcome. This review found that there was a significant link between Employee Voice and Affective Commitment in literature. Previous studies also supported this connection. Limitations, the vigorous process could have left out some critical studies that could have changed the outcome. Even, the thematic analysis that identified and confirmed themes could have been biased towards the researcher’s understanding. Therefore the researcher recommends further research to confirm these outcomes. Future research should include more qualitative studies and more studies to explore the association between the two concepts. However, the current results help future scholars and practitioners to understand the link between Employee Voice and Affective Commitment.