Voice or silence: an explanation of illegitimate tasks

Illegitimate tasks, as a prevalent source of workplace stress, exert a substantial impact on employee behavior. Drawing on affective events theory and conservation of resources theory, the present study investigates the effects of illegitimate tasks on employee silence and prohibitive voice behavior, with discrete negative emotions—specifically boredom and anger—serving as mediators. Additionally, the study examines the cross-level moderating role of job insecurity climate. Data were collected from 459 employees nested within 89 teams, and analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and SPSS. The results indicate that illegitimate tasks elicit boredom and anger, which subsequently lead to increased silence and enhanced prohibitive voice behavior, respectively. Moreover, job insecurity climate significantly weakens the positive association between anger and prohibitive voice behavior, while its moderating effect on the relationship between boredom and silence behavior is not statistically significant. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the emotional and contextual mechanisms underlying employees’ responses to illegitimate tasks and offer practical implications for managing workplace stressors and fostering constructive employee behavior.