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Speaking Up vs. Being Heard: The Disagreement Around and Outcomes of Employee Voice

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  • Ethan R. Burris

    (Department of Management, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

  • James R. Detert

    (Management and Organization Department, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850)

  • Alexander C. Romney

    (Department of Management, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

Abstract

This paper contributes to research on the outcomes of employee prosocial voice to managers by focusing on the relationships between voice and two managerially controlled outcomes: managerial performance ratings and involuntary turnover. Past research has considered voice from either the managerial or subordinate perspective individually and found that it can lead to positive outcomes because of its improvement-oriented nature. However, others have argued that voice can lead to unfavorable outcomes for employees. To begin resolving these competing perspectives, we examine agreement and disagreement between employees and their managers on the extent to which employees provide upward voice, proposing and demonstrating that considering either perspective alone does not fully capture how voice is related to employee outcomes. Findings from a study of 7,578 subordinates and their 335 general managers within a national restaurant chain indicate that agreement between employees and managers that employees display a high level of voice leads to favorable outcomes for employees. Our findings then extend existing research by showing that supervisor–subordinate disagreement around voice also helps explain employee outcomes—namely, how negative outcomes arise as a result of employees overestimating their voice relative to their managers' perspective and how positive outcomes result when employees underestimate their upward voice.

Suggested Citation

  • Ethan R. Burris & James R. Detert & Alexander C. Romney, 2013. "Speaking Up vs. Being Heard: The Disagreement Around and Outcomes of Employee Voice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 22-38, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:22-38
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1110.0732
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas W. H. Ng & Lorenzo Lucianetti & Dennis Y. Hsu & Frederick H. K. Yim & Kelly L. Sorensen, 2021. "You Speak, I Speak: The Social‐Cognitive Mechanisms of Voice Contagion," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(6), pages 1569-1608, September.
    2. Xiaoyan Su & Yating Liu & Nancy Hanson-Rasmussen, 2017. "Voice Behavior, Supervisor Attribution and Employee Performance Appraisal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Juan Wang & Zhe Zhang & Ming Jia, 2020. "Echoes of Corporate Social Responsibility: How and When Does CSR Influence Employees’ Promotive and Prohibitive Voices?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 253-269, November.
    4. Zilong Cui, 2023. "Good soldiers or bad apples? Exploring the impact of employee narcissism on constructive and destructive voice," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Anita L. Tucker, 2016. "The Impact of Workaround Difficulty on Frontline Employees’ Response to Operational Failures: A Laboratory Experiment on Medication Administration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 1124-1144, April.
    6. Uhl-Bien, Mary & Carsten, Melissa & Huang, Lei & Maslyn, John, 2022. "What do managers value in the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship? Identification and measurement of the manager’s perspective of LMX (MLMX)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 225-240.
    7. Wen Wu & Fangcheng Tang & Xiaoyu Dong & Chunlei Liu, 2015. "Different identifications cause different types of voice: A role identity approach to the relations between organizational socialization and voice," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 251-287, March.
    8. Elad N. Sherf & Subrahmaniam Tangirala & Vijaya Venkataramani, 2019. "Why Managers Do Not Seek Voice from Employees: The Importance of Managers’ Personal Control and Long-Term Orientation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 447-466, May.
    9. Wang Ro Lee & Suk Bong Choi & Seung-Wan Kang, 2021. "How Leaders’ Positive Feedback Influences Employees’ Innovative Behavior: The Mediating Role of Voice Behavior and Job Autonomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    10. Zhiyu Feng & Fong Keng-Highberger & Kai Chi Yam & Xiao-Ping Chen & Hu Li, 2023. "Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: How and When Machiavellian Leaders Demonstrate Strategic Abuse," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 255-280, April.
    11. Griffith, Emily E. & Kadous, Kathryn & Proell, Chad A., 2020. "Friends in low places: How peer advice and expected leadership feedback affect staff auditors’ willingness to speak up," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Zhenzhen Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Jie Li, 2022. "The Curvilinear Relationship between Employee Voice and Managers’ Performance Evaluations: The Moderating Role of Voice Consensus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-14, August.

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