Do embedded employees voice more?
| Pages | 824-838 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2017-0150 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Alice J.M. Tan,Raymond Loi,Long W. Lam,Lida L. Zhang |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Do embedded employees
voice more?
Alice J.M. Tan, Raymond Loi, Long W. Lam and Lida L. Zhang
Department of Management and Marketing, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether embedded employees proactively provide
voice for future improvement, and how interactional justice moderates this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach –Survey data were collected from the administrative staff and their
immediate supervisors of a major university located in Southern China. The data were analyzed using
hierarchical linear modeling.
Findings –Job embeddedness was positively related to voice behavior toward organization (VBO) but not to
voice behavior toward work unit. Interactional justice was positively related to both types of voice behavior.
The relationship between job embeddedness and VBO was stronger among employees who perceived lower
interactional justice.
Practical implications –To encouragevoice behavior, organizations shouldattempt to enhance employees’
job embeddednessby adopting human resource strategies such as providing training that helpsemployees to
meet their long-termcareer goals. This is particularlyimportant when supervisors fail totreat their employees
with fairness. Whenemployees are treated with fairness by supervisors,they are also motivated to speak up.
Thus, supervisorsshould pay attention to the ways in whichthey interact with employees.
Originality/value –This paper adds to the existing knowledge of the consequences of job embeddedness by
examining its relationship with voice, a proactive behavior which can benefit the organization but is
considered as risky by the employees. Additionally, studying the moderating effect of interactional justice
enriches the understanding of the conditions under which the relationship between job embeddedness and
voice may vary. It also reveals the uncertainty management process underlying the influences of job
embeddedness and interactional justice on voice behavior.
Keywords Employee voice, Job embeddedness, Interactional justice, Job embeddedness theory,
Fairness heuristic theory
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Ever since job embeddedness, a construct reflecting why people stay on their jobs was
introduced to the field of organizational behavior (Mitchell et al., 2001), researchers have
been interested in examining its impacts on employees and human resource management
(see Lee et al., 2014, for a review). By reducing employees’voluntary turnover and turnover
intention, job embeddedness helps organizations avoid high replacement cost.
Organizations can also gain benefits from their embedded employees’high job
satisfaction (Harris et al., 2011) and good performance (Lee et al., 2004; Sekiguchi et al.,
2008). Aside from the influence of job embeddedness on these outcomes that are clearly
welcome in organizations, one important question that remains unanswered is whether
embedded employees are more or less likely to exhibit proactive behaviors that can benefit
the collectives, but at the same time challenge the status quos and may, therefore, be risky
for the employees themselves. For example, we know very little about how job
embeddedness influences employees’tendency to proactively voice out their ideas,
suggestions, or concerns about their organization or work unit (see Ng and Feldman, 2013,
for an exception). Such neglect of research attention is unfortunate as, to stay competitive,
organizations need to successfully retain employees who are willing to share ideas to
improve organizational or unit functioning (Morrison, 2011).
The present research aims to fill this gap by investigating how job embeddedness
helps employees cope with the uncertainty associated with voice behavior, thereby
influencing their decision about whether or not to speak up. Building on job
Personnel Review
Vol. 48 No. 3, 2019
pp. 824-838
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-05-2017-0150
Received 15 May 2017
Revised 27 February 2018
14 July 2018
Accepted 15 October 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
824
PR
48,3
To continue reading
Request your trial