Research On The Leaders’ Rejection Of Voice On Employees’ Future Voice Mechanism

At present,while the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world,natural disasters and industrial accidents transpire with increasing frequency.To adapt to this new normal,enterprises require stability in the face of risks and resilience in making breakthroughs,innovation,and maintaining sustainable development.Within an organization,employees may be regarded as practitioners who participate in the process of action and who are able to observe the results of decisions.At the same time,employees are discoverers,located at the forefront of risks and contending with key issues.To meet the needs of enterprise development,organizations may encourage employees to actively advise the organization,but an inevitable practical problem is that employees’ voices are often rejected by leaders.Although leaders may select different strategies in their rejection of subordinates’ voices,the reality is that rejection without explanation,or "silent" banishment,proves a frequent response.If employee voices are frequently rejected,the relationship between employees who advise with diminished willingness and leaders who continue to discount their feedback will need to be addressed before the enterprise may be effective in obtaining information necessary for enterprise development,reform,and innovation.For some time,it has been generally recognized that encouraging employees to weigh in constitutes a driver of organizational effectiveness,and indeed,organizational behavior researchers are continuing to expand our understanding of this phenomenon.The research on leaders’ voice-taking,employees’ voices,and voice response has gradually contributed to increased implementation,but the frequent rejection of employee voices in practice has not yet been fully addressed.In the course of a full literature review,this study found no clear conceptualization of rejection of employee feedback by leadership,and empirical research on the relationship between leader’s admonishment or rejection and employee’s future motivation is scant.Consequently,based on the dual needs of practical application and theoretical research,this study explores the concept and implications of a leader’s dismissal of advice given by an employee and subsequent influence mechanism on the employee’s future communication.The specific research comprises the following two aspects: First,based on the literature review,the concept of the leader voice rejection is defined from the perspective of rejection.Secondly,from the perspective of rejection,based on the Temporal Need Threat Model,seven experiments were conducted to explore the influence of rejection of voice by leadership on the employee’s future voice behavior;In this regard,the impact of colleague bullying and employee’s workplace anxiety was also investigated,providing fodder for a discussion of the effect of threats to employee needs on organizational climate as it relates to employee voices along with motivation changes incurred by a leader’s rejection.Through theoretical analysis and experimental tests,the main conclusions of this study are as follows:After defining leader voice rejection as a concept,this study mines related research,exploring leadership as a concept,based on the study of related theories.It explores the strategies of leaders along with the constructive and defensive purposes of their rejection of employee voices,summarizing and defining related concepts and principles.In this regard,some scholars regard the rejection of voice as the opposite of the accepting of voice,or to put it another way,that the rejection of voice is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the accepting of voice.However,this study differentiates between voice-rejection and admonition,because the two differ in terms of coverage and mechanisms of influence,rendering it necessary to regard rejection as a phenomenon deserving independent analysis.Therefore,starting from the perspective of rejection and referring to concepts of social rejection,this study considers the leader’s rejection to be a kind of distinct event in the workplace,entailing the leader’s dismissal of the employee’s voice without explanation,resulting in the obstruction of personal needs and attendant emotional changes in the employee,thus leading to possible behavior changes in the employee.Second,through experimental means,this study verifies that leader voice rejection leads to a decrease in the frequency of employees’ future voices(although a number of mitigating factors are noted that could positively impact employee voice behavior).The fact that leadership put up no objection to this study itself amounts to a kind of refusal to engage.Still,the study itself,which shines a light on the refusal of leadership to address staff communication,may have an impact on future frequency of communicative behavior.Ultimately,the results of this research effort mirrors that of the majority of scholars,indicating that without the influence of external environment or intrinsic characteristics,the behavior of leaders rejecting employees’ suggestions or ideas will lead to a diminishment in employees’ willingness to continue to advise in the future.Thirdly,bullying and workplace anxiety bear a chain mediation effect on the relationship between the leader’s rejection and the frequency of employees’ future voices.As a kind of pressure source,the event of leader voice rejection will lead to an increase in employees’ workplace anxiety,raising the frequency of employees’ future attempts at providing constructive input.In the context of leadership rejection,the influence of colleagues on employees’ emotions and behaviors also cannot be ignored,as it clearly increased employees’ workplace anxiety.Based on the two simple mediators mentioned above,this study further examined the chain effect incurred by leadership’s rejection and the diminishment of future advice delivered by employees.In association,the leader’s rejection had a positive predictive effect on employee bullying,and employee bullying had a positive predictive effect on workplace anxiety among employees,and workplace anxiety had a negative predictive effect on the frequency of the number of voice events in the future.By adjusting the order of the two mediations,the irreversibility of their influence is further demonstrated.Fourth,an organizational climate amenable to voice significantly moderated the effect of leader voice rejection on bullying,that is,the more the organizational climate was conducive to responding to employee voice events,the weaker proved the positive relationship between leaders’ voice-rejection and bullying.In view of the fact that individual behavior is clearly the result of the interaction between intrinsic factors and external social-environment factors,it is axiomatic that the organizational voice atmosphere,which provides clues to the consequences of different modes of behavior,can reduce the bullying of colleagues caused by leader voice rejection to a certain extent.Fifthly,the leader voice rejection significantly moderates the impact of employee’s workplace anxiety upon the frequency of employee’s future voice events;that is,the higher the positive attribution level of employee’s leader voice rejection,the weaker the negative influence of employee’s workplace anxiety on the frequency of employee’s future voice.When leader voice rejection causes anxiety in the workplace,employees will begin to consider why they are rejected,that is,they will evaluate and attribute the motivation of leaders’ rejection and experience a cycle that can be characterized as "emotional reaction--cognitive evaluation--attitude and behavior generation".Therefore,employees’ attribution leadership’s motivation for rejection can reverse the negative behavior caused by workplace anxiety,that is,employees’ positive attribution of leader voice rejection can reduce the inhibitory impact of workplace anxiety upon the frequency of the future voice.Sixth,Need Threat has a significant moderating effect on the effect of leader’s rejection on the frequency of future employee’s voice.That is,the higher the level of perceived threats to employee needs the weaker the negative effect of leader’s rejection on the frequency of future employee’s voice events.It is clear that behaviors such as rejection threaten the individual’s basic needs of belonging,self-esteem,control,and existential significance.However,following rejection of employee expression,which certainly threatens the basic needs of the individuals in question,the individuals may well take actions to protect their needs,such as improving the quality or frequency of advice,thus addressing the issue of rejection and thereby realizing their needs.The innovative aspects of this study are largely reflected in the following four aspects:First,the concept of leader voice rejection is considered primarily in terms of motivational factors of leadership and influence of rejection on employee behavior.Secondly,rejection of employee expression is regarded as an independent behavior to be considered in separation from the negative feedback of remonstration.Thirdly,the temporal need threat model is employed to shed light on the influence of a leader’s rejection on the frequency of employee input.Finally,the dynamic influence of workplace anxiety along with the need for raising the frequency of employees’ future voice events are discussed in different stages.This study provides a number of theoretical contributions and practical illumination.In terms of theoretical contribution,this study considers the concept of the rejection of employee voice by leadership as an act of personal rejection,integrating and extending related studies.Secondly,based on the Temporal Need Threat Model,this thesis discusses the influence of leader voice rejection from the perspective of employees,thus expanding the scope and application of the theoretical model.Thirdly,from the three aspects of leaders,employees,and colleagues,this thesis discusses the mechanisms influencing rejection of employee voices upon the frequency of future expression,which enriches the relevant research on expressive behaviors.Fourthly,the background conditions relevant to the impact of rejection upon the frequency of employees’ acts of expression are revealed from three aspects: the influence of external factors on organizational voice atmosphere,the influence of motivation attribution,and the influence of internal factors on perceived need threat,which further deepens the understanding of the influence of leader voice rejection.Finally,it enriches the research on the influential mechanisms related to leader voice rejection and their impact upon the frequency of employees’ future acts of expression.In terms of practical enlightenment,first of all,enterprises should understand the motivation behind employees’ behavior and take measures to prevent the loss of core human resources.Secondly,leadership should create a positive atmosphere,marked by encouragement,and reducing the employee’s voicerejection initiated by leadership.Thirdly,efforts should be made to constantly improve systems of communication,thus improving employee enthusiasm for communication.Finally,leadership should be assisted in comprehending the emotions and needs that follow rejection,thus leading to timely communication with employees and reinforcing long-term,interactive relationships.