How and When Does Leader Behavioral Integrity Influence Employee Voice? The Roles of Team Independence Climate and Corporate Ethical Values

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 166; no. 3; pp. 505 - 521
• Main Authors: Peng, He, Wei, Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.10.2020; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Education; Employee behavior; Employees; Ethics; Expectancy theories; Independence; Industrial democracy; Management; Morality; Occupational roles; Original Paper; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Studies; Teams; Values; Behavioral integrity; Corporate ethical values; Team independence climate; Voice
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04114-x

Management literature has repeatedly shown that an absence of voice can have serious negative influences on team and organization performance. However, employees often withhold suggestions or advices when they have ideas, concerns, or opinions. The present study proposes leader behavioral integrity as a key antecedent of employee voice, and investigates how and when leader behavioral integrity influences employee voice. Specifically, we argue that leader behavioral integrity affects employee voice via team independence climate. In addition, we propose a moderating effect of corporate ethical values. The results from a study of 134 managers and 408 employees provide support for this moderated mediation model. Leader behavioral integrity positively affects employee voice via team independence climate, but only when ethical values are emphasized in organizations. These results suggest that leader behavioral integrity, along with team independence climate and corporate ethical values, is very important for fostering employee voice.