The Mediating Role of Employee Work Engagement in the Relationship between Leadership Psychological Skills and Employee Voice Behavior

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Phd Student, Faculty of Ecinimics and Administrative Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Management Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Gonabad, Gonabad, Iran

Abstract

Intensified competitiveness in global markets has directed most organizations toward retaining their employees as their most important intangible assets, because losing such individuals can impose huge costs to them. Therefore, managers do their best to keep employee satisfaction. For this purpose, they need to understand the needs of their employees and the organization’s conditions. In such a situation, employees’ positive voice behavior is of utmost importance for managers as it helps enhance their awareness. Therefore, it is essential to identify the factors inducing this behavior. Given that workplace comfort might shape employee voice behavior (EVB) and managers with leadership psychological skills (LPSs) can create a state of calmness for these individuals, as highlighted in previous research, the present study reflected on the relationship between the effects of LPSs on EVB. As employee work engagement (EWE) can be also influenced by LPSs and consequently shape EVB, the mediating role of this variable in the relationship between LPSs and EVB was further discussed. To meet the research goals, a total number of 310 employees working in Iranian food industry companies were employed as the study sample. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and the LISREL software were used for data analysis purposes. The study results ultimately demonstrated that LPSs could affect EVB when mediated by EWE.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Adil, A., & Kamal, A. (2016). Impact of psychological capital and authentic leadership on work engagement and job related affective well-being. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 1-21.
Anitha, J. (2014). Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance. International journal of productivity and performance management.
Aragón-Correa, J. A., García-Morales, V. J., & Cordón-Pozo, E. (2007). Leadership and organizational learning’s role on innovation and performance: Lessons from Spain. Industrial Marketing Management36(3), 349-359.
Avey, J. B., Reichard, R. J., Luthans, F., & Mhatre, K. H. (2011). Meta‐analysis of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(2), 127-152.
Azadegan, A., & Pai, D. (2008). Industrial awards as manifests of business performance: An empirical assessment. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 14(3), 149-159.
Binder, P., Mair, M., Stummer, K., & Kessler, A. (2016). Organizational innovativeness and its results: A qualitative analysis of SME hotels in Vienna. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 40(3), 339-363.
Blader, S. L., & Tyler, T. R. (2009). Testing and extending the group engagement model: linkages between social identity, procedural justice, economic outcomes, and extrarole behavior. Journal of applied psychology94(2), 445-540.
Bull, S. J., Albinson, J. G., & Shambrook, C. J. (1996). The mental game plan: Getting psyched for sport. Sports Dynamics.
Chen, G., & Tjosvold, D. (2012). Shared rewards and goal interdependence for psychological safety among departments in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management29(2), 433-452.
Cheng, J. W., Chang, S. C., Kuo, J. H., & Cheung, Y. H. (2014). Ethical leadership, work engagement, and voice behavior. Industrial Management & Data Systems.
Cheng, J. W., Lu, K. M., Chang, Y. Y., & Johnstone, S. (2013). Voice behavior and work engagement: The moderating role of supervisor‐attributed motives. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources51(1), 81-102.
Chikoko, G. L., Buitendach, J. H., & Kanengoni, H. (2014). The psychological conditions that predict work engagement among tertiary education employees. Journal of Psychology in Africa24(6), 469-474.
Coakes, E. W., Smith, P. A., & Alwis, D. (2011). Sustainable innovation and right to market. Information Systems Management28(1), 30-42.
De Brentani, U., & Kleinschmidt, E. J. (2004). Corporate culture and commitment: Impact on performance of international new product development programs. Journal of Product Innovation Management21(5), 309-333.
Donaghey, J., Dundon, T., Cullinane, N., Dobbins, T., & Hickland, E. (2019). Managerial silencing of employee voice. In Employee voice at work (pp. 113-128). Springer, Singapore.
Duane Hansen, S., Dunford, B. B., Alge, B. J., & Jackson, C. L. (2016). Corporate social responsibility, ethical leadership, and trust propensity: A multi-experience model of perceived ethical climate. Journal of Business Ethics137(4), 649-662.
Dundon, T., Wilkinson, A., Marchington, M., & Ackers, P. (2004). The meanings and purpose of employee voice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(6), 1149-1170.
Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual review of organizational psychology and organizational behavior1(1), 23-43.
Guo, Y., Zhu, Y., & Zhang, L. (2020). Inclusive leadership, leader identification and employee voice behavior: The moderating role of power distance. Current Psychology, 1-10.
Hagedoorn, M., Van Yperen, N. W., Van de Vliert, E., & Buunk, B. P. (1999). Employees’ reactions to problematic events: A circumplex structure of five categories of responses, and the role of job satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 20(3), 309-321.
Hsiung, H. H. (2012). Authentic leadership and employee voice behavior: A multi-level psychological process. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(3), 349-361.
Iqbal, Q., Ahmad, N. H., & Nasim, A. (2020). A moderated-mediation analysis of psychological empowerment: Sustainable leadership and sustainable performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 3(2), 121- 149.
Jena, L. K., Pradhan, S., & Panigrahy, N. P. (2018). The pursuit of organizational trust: Role of employee engagement, psychological well-being, and transformational leadership. Asia Pacific Management Review, 23(3), 227-234.
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692-724.
Kim, M., Do Kim, Y., & Lee, H. W. (2020). It is time to consider athletes’ well-being and performance satisfaction: The roles of authentic leadership and psychological capital. Sport Management Review23(5), 964-977.
Kougiannou, K. (2019). Employee silence and voice: addressing hidden inequalities at work. In Inequality and Organizational Practice (pp. 179-197). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Li, Y. (2019). Leadership styles and knowledge workers’ work engagement: Psychological capital as a mediator. Current Psychology, 38(5), 1152-1161.
Liang, J., Farh, C. I., & Farh, J. L. (2012). Psychological antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voice: A two-wave examination. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 71-92.
Liu, H., Wang, E. Q., Chen, Z., Liu, P., Larson, C. R., & Huang, D. (2010). Effect of tonal native language on voice fundamental frequency responses to pitch feedback perturbations during sustained vocalizations. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(6), 3739-3746.
Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., Avolio, B. J., Norman, S. M., & Combs, G. M. (2006). Psychological capital development: Toward a micro‐intervention. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 27(3), 387-393.
Madrid, H. P., Diaz, M. T., Leka, S., Leiva, P. I., & Barros, E. (2018). A finer-grained approach to psychological capital and work performance. Journal of Business and Psychology, 33(4), 461-477.
May, D. R., Gilson, R. L., & Harter, L. M. (2004). The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety, and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77(1), 11-37.
McCabe, D. M., & Lewin, D. (1992). Employee voice: A human resource management perspective. California Management Review, 34(3), 112-123.
Millward, N., Bryson, A., & Forth, J. A. (2000). ). All change at work? British employment relations 1980-98, portrayed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey Series. Routledge.
Olivier, A. L., & Rothmann, S. (2007). Antecedents of work engagement in a multinational company. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology33(3), 49-56.
Peng, H., & Wei, F. (2020). How and when does leader behavioral integrity influence employee voice? The roles of team independence climate and corporate ethical values. Journal of Business Ethics166(3), 505-521.
Rego, A., Marques, C., Leal, S., Sousa, F., & Pina e Cunha, M. (2010). Psychological capital and performance of Portuguese civil servants: exploring neutralizers in the context of an appraisal system. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(9), 1531-1552.
Salanova, M., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2008). A cross-national study of work engagement as a mediator between job resources and proactive behavior. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(1), 116-131.
Schuckert, M., Kim, T. T., Paek, S., & Lee, G. (2018). Motivate to innovate: How authentic and transformational leaders influence employees’ psychological capital and service innovation behavior. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18(3), 140-162.
Simsek, Y., & Gürler, M. (2019). A study on employee voice and its effect on work engagement: Explicating from the Turkish teachers’ perspectives. International Education Studies, 12(7), 80-92.
Sonnentag, S. (2003). Recovery, work engagement, and proactive behavior: a new look at the interface between nonwork and work. Journal of applied psychology88(3), 518-553.
Sweetman, D., & Luthans, F. (2010). The power of positive psychology: Psychological capital and work engagement. Work Engagement: A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research, 12(4), 54-68.
Tajeddini, K., Martin, E., & Altinay, L. (2020). The importance of human-related factors on service innovation and performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 85(3), 132-159.
Takeuchi, R., Chen, Z., & Cheung, S. Y. (2012). Applying uncertainty management theory to employee voice behavior: An integrative investigation. Personnel Psychology, 65(2), 283-323.
Tangirala, S., Kamdar, D., Venkataramani, V., & Parke, M. R. (2013). Doing right versus getting ahead: The effects of duty and achievement orientations on employees’ voices. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(6), 103-123.
Teo, S. T., Bentley, T., & Nguyen, D. (2019). Psychosocial work environment, work engagement, and employee commitment: A moderated, mediation model. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 13(4), 110-135.
Thakur, S. P. (1999). Size of investment, opportunity choice and human resources in new venture growth: Some typologies. Journal of Business Venturing14(3), 283-309.
Tian, Z. L., & Huang, P. L. (2013). Researches on the effects of leader empowerment behavior on employees’ voice behavior: The mediating effect of self-efficacy. In Proceedings of 20th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (pp. 757-764). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Tiwari, B., & Lenka, U. (2016). Building psychological safety for employee engagement in post-recession. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, 98(6), 283-305.
Vantilborgh, T. (2015). Volunteers’ reactions to psychological contract fulfillment in terms of exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect behavior. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations26(2), 604-628.
Wang, Z., Xu, S., Sun, Y., & Liu, Y. (2019). Transformational leadership and employee voice: An affective perspective. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 13(1), 1-14.
Wu, C. M., & Chen, T. J. (2018). Collective psychological capital: Linking shared leadership, organizational commitment, and creativity. International Journal of Hospitality Management74(4), 75-84.
Yan, A., & Xiao, Y. (2016). Servant leadership and employee voice behavior: A cross-level investigation in China. SpringerPlus5(1), 1-11.
Zheng, Y., Graham, L., Farh, J. L., & Huang, X. (2021). The impact of authoritarian leadership on ethical voice: A moderated mediation model of felt uncertainty and leader benevolence. Journal of Business Ethics170(1), 133-146.
Zhou, H., Feng, L., & Liu, A. (2017). The structure and mechanism of voice behavior: based on the perspective of motivation. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (pp. 467-475). Springer, Singapore.
Ziyae, B., Mobaraki, M. H., & Saeediyoun, M. (2015). The effect of psychological capital on innovation in information technology. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research5(1), 1-12.
Zubair, A., & Kamal, A. (2015). Work-related flow, psychological capital, and creativity among employees of software houses. Psychological Studies, 60(3), 321-331.