High-commitment work systems and employee voice. A multilevel and serial mediation approach inside the black box

Published date03 June 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/ER-08-2018-0218
Date03 June 2019
Pages811-827
AuthorJunwei Zhang,Muhammad Naseer Akhtar,Yajun Zhang,Yasin Rofcanin
Subject MatterHr & organizational behaviour
High-commitment work systems
and employee voice
A multilevel and serial mediation approach
inside the black box
Junwei Zhang
College of Economics and Management,
Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
Muhammad Naseer Akhtar
Department of Management and HR, NUST Business School,
National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Yajun Zhang
School of Business Administration,
Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China, and
Yasin Rofcanin
School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, UK
Abstract
Purpose Although scholars have suggested that employees often carefully consider social contexts before
enacting voice, few studies have explored whether firms foster employee voice behavior by adopting a set of
systematic HR practices, namely, high-commitment work systems (HCWS). By integrating the literature on
HCWS and voice, the purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms of how HCWS utilization influences
employee voice.
Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted multilevel analyses with HLM software to
examine the research hypotheses. The authors collected data from a sample of 290 employees and 58 line
managers from 11 software design and development firms in China.
Findings HCWS utilizationpositively affected employee-experienced HCWS whichenhanced psychological
safetyand perceived organizationalsupport, and in turn employeevoice behavior. In addition,HCWS utilization
positively influenced employee-experienced HCWS, and subsequently increased voice efficacy. However,
contrary to the expectations, voice efficacywas not related to employee voice.
Originality/value The study is the first to integrate research on HCWS and voice. By building on the
theory of planned behavior, the authors provide new insights into the relationship between HCWS utilization
and employee voice and inspire researchers to elucidate other explanatory mechanisms in this link.
Keywords High-commitment work systems, Voice, Psychological safety,
Perceived organizational support, Voice efficacy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Achieving organizational success only through the wisdom of top managers is becoming
increasinglychallenging due to the complexity of theexternal organizations, becausethose at
the top level are not likely to possess all the data they need for work-related issues
(Qin et al., 2014; Tangirala and Ramanujam, 2008). The suggestions from lower-level
employees in the organization can promote decision-making quality, help correct errors and
improve managerial effectiveness (Wei et al., 2015; Burris, 2012). H owever, employees are Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 41 No. 4, 2019
pp. 811-827
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-08-2018-0218
Received 13 August 2018
Revised 4 November 2018
4 December 2018
10 December 2018
Accepted 10 December 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(71602065) and Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education Planning Fund
(18YJA630149), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662019PY021).
811
HCWS and
employee voice
often reluctant to express their opinions and concerns about potentially serious problems in
the organization as thisinvolves a degree of personal risk (Liang et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2010),
such as criticizing the status quo, challenging the authority of leaders and undermining
organizational harmony. A study by Milliken et al. (2003) reported that over 85 percent of
employees prefer to remain silent toward issues and problems at work. Therefore,
theoreticallyand practically exploring and understanding the factors that facilitate employee
voice have become critical.
According to Tangirala et al. (2013), voice is defined as the expression of challenging but
constructive opinions, concerns, or ideas by employees on work-related issues.Several
studies have shown that voice is influenced by some individual facilitators, e.g., core
self-evaluations, proactive personality, extraversion, assertiveness, conscientiousness and
duty orientation (Aryee et al., 2017; Morrison, 2014; Tangirala et al., 2013; Crant et al., 2011;
Harlos, 2010; Kish-Gephart et al., 2009; LePine and Van Dyne, 2001). However, these
individual factors are difficult to change. Thus, there has been an increasing interest among
researchers in understanding how contextual conditions drive employee voice. Existing
work has identified that voice is a result of some contextual triggers, for instance,
transformational leadership (Duan et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2010), ethical leadership (Chen and
Hou, 2016; Walumbwa and Schaubroeck, 2009), paternalistic leadership (Chan, 2014),
leadermember exchange (Kong et al., 2017), perceived organizational support (Tucker et al.,
2008), psychological safety (Walumbwa and Schaubroeck, 2009; Detert and Burris, 2007),
group voice climate (Morrison et al., 2011), organizational identification (Qi and Ming-Xia,
2014) and felt obligation for change (Liang et al., 2012).
Although scholars have emphasized that voice can be promoted via contextual enablers, few
studies have explored whether and how high-commitment work systems (HCWS) organizations
utilize foster employee voice. HCWS refer to a system of HR practices aimed to elicit employee
commitment to the organization (Xiao and Björkman, 2006). HCWS, one of the most systematic
contextual factors, are intended to help the organization to realize its goals by emphasizing
employeesbenefits and long-term development and strengthening employeesemotional
attachment and trust toward the organization (Whitener, 2001). We argue that HCWS may
contribute to employee voice because they create a condition in which employees have the
desires, abilities and perceived safety to generate constructive changes in the organization.
Hence, our first objective is to examine the impact of HCWS utilization on employee voice.
Moreover, drawingupon the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen,1991), we aim to explicate
the processes through which HCWS utilization contributes to employee voice. Voice can be
considered a planned behavior that enables individuals to ponder cognitively whether to
engage in voice behavior, e.g., by looking at potential benefits andcosts associated with voice
(Liang et al., 2012). Voice is referred to as taking reasonable initiative in a belief that
conditions can be improved by offering open discussions and providing solutions
(Akhtar et al., 2016). Expressing constructive suggestions may have beneficial consequences
for employees, such as enhanced perceived control, favorable promotion opportunities and
decreased stress (Dutton and Ashford, 1993; Greenberger and Strasser, 1986; Parker, 1993).
On the other hand, voice may have potential personal risks, including increased
interpersonal conflicts and being ostracized, poor job assignment and negative performance
review (Morrison, 2011; Milliken et al., 2003; Morrison and Milliken, 2000). Hence, employees
can carefully evaluate and explore the potential pros and cons associated with voice before
speaking up, i.e., voice behavior may be considered as a deliberate planned behavior
(Liang et al., 2012). The theory of planned behavior offers insights into explaining the
enactment of planned behavior. This theory posits that three factors critically influence
individual behavior (Ajzen, 1991). First, individuals must have a positive attitude toward
the behavior (attitude toward the behavior). Second, perceived social pressures of performing
the behavior are from influential individuals and g roups (subjective norms). Third, individuals
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