Voice Flows to and around Leaders: Understanding When Units Are Helped or Hurt by Employee Voice

Detert, Burris, Harrison & Martin · Voice & Silence, Power & Equity · Administrative Science Quarterly · 2013 · Open access

Examines when and why employee voice benefits or harms unit performance. Found that voice directed upward to leaders helps when leaders are receptive and have the power to act, but can hurt when it is not acted upon — raising the cost of speaking up for future attempts. Introduces a flow model of voice that goes beyond individual-level antecedents.

Detert, J.R., Burris, E.R., Harrison, D.A. and Martin, S.R. (2013) 'Voice flows to and around leaders: Understanding when units are helped or hurt by employee voice', Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(4), pp. 624–668.

Neighbours (12)

• Calculus of Voice
• Psychological Safety: A Meta-Analytic Review and Extension (paper)
• How We Respond
• Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open? (paper)
• Organizational Silence: A Barrier to Change and Development in a Pluralistic World (paper)
• Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at Work (paper)
• Reducing Power Gradients
• Silence in Organizations and Psychological Safety: A Literature Review (paper)
• Status Characteristics and Social Interaction (paper)
• Watermelon Effect
• Barriers to PS
• Safety in High-Reliability Organizations: The Role of Upward Voice, Team Learning, and Safety Climate (paper)