SPEAKING UP AS A MIXED BLESSING: A WITHIN-INDIVIDUAL EXAMINATION OF PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES OF VOICE BEHAVIOR

Abstract

This dissertation aims to uncover how, why, and when voice behavior may generate positive or negative personal consequences. Integrating the dual nature of voice (i.e., upward influence and contradiction against the status quo) with conservation of resources theory, I theorize voice behavior as a mixed blessing for employees who speak up. At the daily, within-individual level, I hypothesize voice behavior to be positively related to perceived influence, which in turn heightens work engagement and lowers emotional exhaustion. At the same time, voice behavior is hypothesized to be positively related to anxiety about upsetting the leader, which in turn heightens emotional exhaustion and lowers work engagement. Furthermore, I propose regulatory focus and leader-member exchange as boundary conditions for the daily effects of voice as well as between-individual-level antecedents of voice. I conducted two studies using experience sampling methodology to test the hypotheses.