I spoke up, did you hear? The impact of voice (in)congruence on employee-initiated constructive changes

Abstract

Why do employees voice ideas for constructive changes in their organization and then fail to pursue those changes? To answer this question, we examined how individuals’ voice experiences with managers influence their initiative in pursuing constructive changes. Viewing the voicer–manager dyad as the basic unit of analysis, we propose that (in)congruence between manager-rated and employee self-rated voice behavior provides individuals with important cues about whether they receive respect for their voiced ideas. This sequentially influences whether employees prefer to pursue constructive changes after speaking up. Using time-lagged survey data collected from 191 employee–manager dyads, we tested our hypotheses using a multilevel polynomial regression framework. The findings show that the experience of voice congruence increases an individual’s perceived respect for voice from the manager, which, in turn, leads to greater effort in implementing constructive changes. This relationship is stronger for individuals who believe that they cannot speak up to the manager without clear solutions and careful preparation (i.e. voice quality belief). The theoretical and practical implications of this study are also discussed.