Employee Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect in Response to Dissatisfying Organizational Situations: It Depends on Supervisory Relationship Quality

Abstract

This study examined, via a field experiment, the extent to which the quality of leader-member exchange (LMX) and gender affect employees’ enactment of exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect (EVLN) strategies in response to the dissatisfying situation of injustice in the workplace. Findings showed that, when faced with a dissatisfying situation, employees in high-quality LMXs are less likely to engage in exit and neglect behaviors, but more likely to practice loyalty behaviors than their peers in low-quality LMXs. Voice behaviors, the most preferred response strategy, appear to have much more complex relationships with LMX quality than other strategic communication responses. No gender difference was detected. Furthermore, gender did not moderate the way that the quality of LMX influences the use of EVLN strategies.