【公开学术报告】Speaking up as a mixed blessing: A daily-level examination of personal consequences of voice behavior

Guest Speaker:      Dr. Jingxian YAO (Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics)

Date & Time:         15:00-16:30, Thur. 9th, Sept. 2021

Zoom Meeting:     853 616 74171 （Password: 782427）

Click Link:            https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85361674171 

ABSTRACT

The literature on employee voice has predominantly focused on its organizational implications and antecedents, yet paid less attention to its consequences for employees who enact this behavior. This paper uncovers how, why, and when engaging in voice behavior may generate beneficial or undesirable outcomes for employees. Integrating the dual nature of voice (i.e., upward influence and contradiction against the status quo) with conservation of resources theory, we theorize how voice behavior unfolds as a double-edged sword for employees who speak up. On one hand, voice behavior increases employees’ perceived influence at work, thereby heightening their work engagement and well-being; on the other hand, voice behavior triggers employees’ anxiety about upsetting the leader, thereby leading to detrimental outcomes. We further propose regulatory foci as boundary conditions for the personal consequences of voice behavior, such that the relationship between voice and perceived influence is more pronounced among promotion-focused employees whereas the relationship between voice and anxiety about upsetting the leader is more pronounced among prevention-focused employees. Findings of two field studies using experience sampling methodology at the daily, within-individual level substantiate voice behavior as a mixed blessing for voicing employees, and hint at the personal benefits of expressing voice overall outweighing its costs. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: employee voice behavior, perceived influence, anxiety about upsetting the leader, regulatory foci, conservation of resources theory

Guest Bio:

Jingxian Yao received his Ph.D. in Management at the National University of Singapore and B.Sc. in Psychology at Zhejiang University. He is currently an assistant professor at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, specializing in the area of organizational behavior and human resources management. Jingxian’s research interests include extra-role behaviors, workplace interpersonal relationships, and health-related behaviors, examining how employees’ behaviors beyond core task duties affect themselves and their organization. He is also interested in the interfaces between work and family domains, illustrating how attitudes and behaviors in the work domain spillover to the family domain and vice versa. His research has focused on a variety of public and private sectors, including education, healthcare, professional services, and architecture design. Jingxian received the Best Paper Award at the 2019 Asia Academy of Management Conference and the Kwok Leung Memorial Dissertation Award by the International Association for Chinese Management Research.