Speaking Up To Be Heard: Influence Processes in Employee Voice

In this symposium, we seek to shed light on factors that influence the extent to which employee voice is endorsed and implemented by managers. Although ideas and suggestions from lower-level ranks are considered critical to driving workplace improvement, employees face considerable challenges in having their input taken seriously by higher-ups. For instance, managers can be threatened by new ideas that challenge the status quo, and employees can fail to communicate their ideas in ways that are persuasive and effective. As such, understanding how voice can translate into meaningful action is relevant from a both theoretical and practical standpoint. This symposium brings together five empirical papers that together outline: (1) How employees can better frame their ideas to increase the likelihood of managerial voice endorsement, (2) The channels of employee voice that are most effective, and (3) The role of peers in helping employees receive favorable evaluations of their voice by managers. The papers in this symposium collectively span a diverse set of methodologies and samples. Dr. James (Jim) Detert, an expert in the area of employee voice, will serve as the Discussant, leading an interactive group discussion, providing feedback, and outlining future directions from the works presented. How to Gain Endorsement: Voice Framing Tactics and Feedback-Seeking from Peers Author: Rui Shu; Shanghai U. of Finance and Economics Author: Jing Wu; BI Norwegian Business School Examining the Group Context: How Peer Responses to Voice Affect Endorsement Author: Kristin Bain; Rochester Institute of Technology The Spillover Effects of Radical Ideas on Managerial Implementation of Other Proposals Author: Insiya Hussain; U. of Texas at Austin Author: Subrahmaniam Tangirala; U. of Maryland Author: Hyunsun Park; U. of Maryland College Park Author: E. S. Srinivas; Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore From Individual Concern to Voice Implementation: A Collective Interactional Process Author: Limei Zhang; Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong U. Author: Jian Liang; Tongji U. Heard it through the Grapevine: How Voice Leakage Influences Manager Reactions to Voice Author: Michael Parke; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Author: Stephanie Yu; U. of Pennsylvania