"Environment-Recognition-Motivation- Behavior" Model Of Employee Voice

Modern enterprises are involved in complex and volatile external environment, always facing increasingly fierce market competition. In order to survive and develop, innovation and change within the organization are urgent and inevitable. In such organizational environment where flexibility, innovation and continuous improvement are of central importance, employee voice is critical to the survival of organizations. Employee voice can screen problems and difficulties from organization, provide reasonable suggestions for improvement, improve learning capacity and enhance organizational activity, improve operational efficiency, and build the core competitiveness. The contribution of the staff's organizational knowledge and skills is a key source of the sustainability of organizational vigor and vitality. However, when organizations urgently need reminders and suggestions, the staff often remain silent, reluctant to express their true thoughts and opinions. Existing problems of organizations cannot be found, the risks faced cannot be well evaluated, opportunities for innovation cannot be seized promptly, and improvement cannot be sustained. Thus, management decisions will increasingly deviate from the reality; organizations are increasingly stiff, aging, and lifeless. A puzzle of management practices is:why sometimes employees are willing to provide advice to the organization, and sometimes remain silent?Voice behavior is active, challenging and caused by positive emotions extra role behavior, to offer constructive ideas and suggestions to improve organizations performance. Whether the staff will voice out, on what time, of which way are all influenced by many factors. Based on the theoretical basis and also driven by practical issues, this study builds an "Environmental-Cognition-Motivation-Behavior" model of voice behavior and conducts a corresponding empirical research. We basically use questionnaire surveys to collect matched data of employees and their direct supervisors, and use paired method to reduce common method bias. The total number of successfully paired valid questionnaires is 370. This research is divided into 3 sub-studies.Study1 aims at the motivation of voice behavior. According to theories of motivation, voice behavior has its internal motivation mechanism. To study the mechanism of voice behavior, we must first figure out the motives of voice behavior. Based on motivation theory, expectancy theory and motives of organizational citizenship behavior, Study 1 builds a voice motive model, and investigates whether organizational concern, pro-social values and impression management will affect voice behavior. In addition, regulation focus might also impact on the individual's cognitive, emotional, decision making and behavioral strategy. It is possible for the regulatory focus and motivation to interact with each other. Thus in Study 1, we also take this possible interaction effect into consideration. The main conclusions of study 1 are:(1) Organizational concern, pro-social values and impression management are three main motives of voice behavior; they are all significantly positive correlated with both promotive voice and prohibitive voice. (2) Promotion focus and prevention focus play moderate role in the relationship.Study 2 focuses on cognitive mechanism of voice behavior. From the perspective of self-awareness, Study 2 selects two social cognitive factors (perceived organizational status and self-efficacy of voice) that may be highly associated with employee voice behavior, and examines the impact of these two factors. Self-efficacy of voice puts more emphasis on one's own ability and power, while perceived organizational status focuses on the environment around. The effects between these two factors might be different to some extent, and is worthy further research and discussions. At the same time, social cognitive theory also underlines the relevance of cognition and motivation. Cognition may stimulate and strengthen individual's motivation, and thus affect the individual behavioral choices. Thus, the intermediary role of motivation is also examined between cognition and voice behavior in Study 2. Furthermore, based on cultural self-representation theory, interaction effect may exist between cognition and cultural values. Study 2 also discusses the moderating role of cultural values between perceived organizational status and voice behavior. The results show that:(1) Self-efficacy of voice has significant impact on voice behavior through all three motivation factors. (2) The relationship between perceived organizational status and preventive voice is significantly positive, and is moderated by power distance and collectivism.Study 3 targets at the effect mechanisms of leadership on voice behavior. As spokesperson for the organization, leaders are often the creators of the current system, and also hold the right to award or punish subordinates. Leaders' behavior is an important aspect for staff to judge whether the situation is favorable. Staff will measure the pros and cons of voice behavior based on the reaction of leaders. Moreover, leaders directly contact with the staff, and thus most employees will also offer advice directly to supervisors. Different leadership styles will generate different effects on employee voice behavior, and there are also differences in the impact mechanism. Study 3 explores the role of ethical leadership, benevolent leadership and authoritarian leadership on employee voice. As an external environment factor, leadership can affect certain mental state of employees, and thus hinder or stimulate voice behavior. Study 3 also discusses the intermediary role of these two cognitive factors, self-efficacy of voice and perceived organizational status of employee. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of leadership is also related with the context boundaries of cultural values. Thus Study 3 also discusses moderate role of power distance, individualism and collectivism between leadership and employee voice. Results show that:(1) Ethical leadership positively affect prohibitive voice behavior through cognitive factors (self-efficacy of voice and perceived organizational status). (2) Benevolent leadership positively affects promotive voice through self-efficacy of voice. (3) Power distance, individualism and collectivism play moderate role between these relationships.In summary, Study 1-3 have investigated the action mechanism of motivation, cognitive factors, leadership on employee voice, established "Environmental-Cognition-Motivation-Behavior" integrated model of employee voice behavior, and discussed moderate effect of the regulatory focus and cultural values on these mechanisms.Based on the results of Study 1-3, this paper also conducts a case study in more realistic management situation, attempting to implement various measures to encourage voice. Most existing researches on employee voice behavior focus on various antecedents and psychological mechanisms theoretically, In order to further understand the theoretical knowledge in management practice, this paper carried out a case study for three months in real management situations, to observe the implementation of various suggestions on how to promote voice, to compare the implementation effect of each kind of measures, and to understand the emotional reaction and changes in behavior of employees. The study finds that encourage measures can be summarized as seven kinds:(1) to strengthen the importance of voice; (2) to provide direction of thinking; (3) to improve the ability to offer voice; (4) to clear communication channels; (5) to build record and evaluation system of voice behavior; (6) to reward voice behavior; (7) to put voice into practice. Combining above measures to encourage voice will help improve the effectiveness of the measures.Conclusions of this study have certain theoretical significance. On the basis of motivation theory, expectancy theory and motives of organizational citizenship behavior, this paper puts forward a voice motive model, and implements an empirical research. The results show that organizational concern, pro-social values and impression management affect voice behavior positively, which will not only enrich the prior study of voice motives, but also provide a perspective for understanding voice behavior besides social exchange theory and resource conservation theory. In this study, based on social cognitive theory, we construct a cognitive incentive model of voice to provide an explanation for the voice behavior from another angle, and to investigate the action mechanism of cognitive factors on voice behavior, which will deepen the understanding of voice behavior. Plenty of researches have tried various ways and perspectives to study voice behavior and conclude various and complex conclusions. This study attempts to build an integrated "Environmental-Cognition-Motivation-Behavior" model of voice behavior based on social cognitive theory, motivation theory and expectancy theory, trying to integrate related researches about voice behavior, clarify the relationship between variables, and provide a new perspective to understand the action mechanism of voice.Conclusions of this study have certain significance to management practices. Organizations should pay attention to employee motivation factors, adopt different management strategies for different motivations levels, and promote voice behavior by increasing employee motives. To the awareness of the impact of leadership behavior on staff perception, the improvement of the managers'skills, support, encouragement and praise for the staff are all very important. The guidance of the leader's vision for employees, intellectual stimulation and individualized care, will enhance staffs voice efficacy and perceived organizational status, help the staff to progress and encourage employee voice. In addition, different cultural values held by employees should also be considered to adopt suitable contingency management.