Too unsafe to voice? Authoritarian leadership and employee voice in Chinese organizations.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Wu, Tsung‐Yu; Liu, Yi‐Fu; Hua, Chong‐Yu; Lo, Hao‐Cheng; Yeh, Ying‐Jung
- Source
- Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. Oct2020, Vol. 58 Issue 4, p527-554. 28p.
- Subject
- *EMPLOYEE participation in management
*GUANXI
*LEADERSHIP
*EMPLOYEES
*DYADS
- Language
- ISSN
- 1038-4111
Our study aims to explore whether subordinate psychological safety mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate voice and whether supervisor–subordinate guanxi moderates this mediating effect. Using survey research, we obtained supervisor–subordinate dyad data in Taiwan amounting to 171 valid observations. The results reveal that subordinate psychological safety mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate voice and that this mediating effect is weaker for high supervisor–subordinate guanxi than for low supervisor–subordinate guanxi. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and further research directions of this study. Key points: The study tends to explore how and when authoritarian leadership makes subordinates reluctant to voice in Chinese organizations.The results show that employee psychological safety mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate voice.The results also demonstrate that supervisor–subordinate guanxi weakens the mediating effect of psychological safety on the authoritarian leadership–voice relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]