Supervisory Responsiveness and Employee Self-Perceived Status and Voice Behavior

Abstract

We investigated the role of employees’ status appraisals within their work group in relation to their challenging-promotive voice behavior. We argued that fair and respectful treatment of their voice input by the authority figure of the group (i.e., supervisory responsiveness) enhances employees’ self-perceived status, thereby motivating them to engage in subsequent voice behavior. Using a sample of 337 supervisor-subordinate dyads collected in manufacturing industry organizations in China, we found that self-perceived status mediated the relationship between supervisory responsiveness and voice behavior. We further identified employees’ self-efficacy for voice as a moderator in this mediational chain for the path from supervisory responsiveness to self-perceived status. The indirect relationship between supervisory responsiveness and voice behavior through self-perceived status was more pronounced when self-efficacy for voice was higher rather than lower.