Speaking Up at Work: The Role of Perceived Organizational Support in Explaining the Relationship Between Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Voice Behavior

Abstract

Voice is a risky and more challenging type of organizational citizenship behavior in that it is designed to bring about change. Using conservation of resources and social exchange theories, we investigate relationships between voice, perceptions of organizational politics, and perceived organizational support (POS). We also investigate the mediating role of POS in the politics–voice relationship to determine the extent to which POS can explain this relationship. Lagged survey data from supervisor–employee dyads (N = 257) were collected 6 weeks apart. Results show that perceptions of organizational politics were negatively related to voice, while POS was positively related to voice. POS had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and voice. Our results underscore the importance of contextual factors in encouraging or prohibiting voice and may help managers and organizations understand how best to encourage this important change-oriented workplace behavior.

Keywords

voice perceptions of organizational politics perceived organizational support organizational citizenship behavior social exchange theory

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbas

Raja

Darr

Bouckenooghe

(2014). Combined effects of perceived politics and psychological capital on job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and performance. Journal of Management, 40(7), 1813-1830.

Andrews

M. C.

Kacmar

K. M.

(2001). Discriminating among organizational politics, justice, and support. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22(4), 347-366.

Angle

H. L.

Perry

J. L.

(1983). Organizational commitment: Individual and organizational influences. Work and Occupations, 10(2), 123-146.

Aryee

Chen

Z. X.

Budhwar

P. S.

(2004). Exchange fairness and employee performance: An examination of the relationship between organizational politics and procedural justice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 94(1), 1-14.

Ashford

S. J.

Rothbard

N. P.

Piderit

S. K.

Dutton

J. E.

(1998). Out on a limb: The role of context and impression management in selling gender-equity issues. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43(1), 23-57.

Bakker

A. B.

Demerouti

(2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328.

Barry

Wilkinson

(2016). Pro-social or pro-management? A critique of the conception of employee voice as a pro-social behvaiour within organizational behaviour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(2), 261-284.

Barsky

Kaplan

S. A.

Beal

D. J.

(2011). Just feelings? The role of affect in the formation of organizational fairness judgments. Journal of Management, 37(1), 248-279.

Bashshur

M. R.

(2015). When voice matters: A multilevel review of the impact of voice in organizations. Journal of Management, 41(5), 1530-1554.

10.

Beenen

Pinto

(2009). Resisting organizational-level corruption: An interview with Sherron Watkins. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8, 275-289.

11.

Bergman

M. E.

Langhout

R. D.

Palmieri

P. A.

Cortina

L. M.

Fitzgerald

L. F.

(2002). The (un)reasonableness of reporting: Antecedents and consequences of reporting sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 230-242.

12.

Berry

(2004). Organizational culture: A framework and strategies for facilitating employee whistleblowing. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 16(1), 1-11.

13.

Blau

P. M.

(1964). Social exchange. In Blau

P. M.

(Ed.), Exchange and power in social life (pp. 88-114). John Wiley.

14.

Brockner

Ackerman

Greenberg

Gelfand

M. J.

Francesco

A. M.

Chen

Z. X.

Leung

Bierbrauer

Gomez

Kirkman

B. L.

Shapiro

(2001). Culture and procedural justice: The influence of power distance on reactions to voice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37(4), 300-315.

15.

Brouer

R. L.

Ferris

G. R.

Hochwarter

W. A.

Laird

M. D.

Gilmore

D. C.

(2006). The strain-related reactions to perceptions of organizational politics as a workplace stressor: Political skill as a neutralizer. In Vigoda-Gadot

Drory

(Eds.), Handbook of organizational politics (pp. 187-206). Edward Elgar.

16.

Bruzzese

(2014). 10 Ways to lose your best employees. https://www.quickbase.com/blog/10-ways-to-lose-your-best-employees

17.

Burris

E. R.

(2012). The risks and rewards of speaking up: Managerial responses to employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 851-875.

18.

Cavanaugh

M. A.

Boswell

W. R.

Roehling

M. V.

Boudreau

J. W.

(2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among U.S. managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 65-74.

19.

Chamberlin

Newton

D. W.

Lepine

J. A.

(2017). A meta-analysis of voice and its promotive and prohibitive forms: Identification of key associations, distinctions, and future research directions. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 11-71.

20.

Chang

C. H.

Rosen

C. C.

Levy

P. E.

(2009). The relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and employee attitudes, strain, and behavior: A meta-analytic examination. Academy of Management Journal, 52(4), 779-801.

21.

Cohen

West

S. G.

Aiken

L. S.

(2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (Vol. 3). Lawrence Erlbaum.

22.

Cropanzano

Howes

J. C.

Grandey

A. A.

Toth

(1997). The relationship of organizational politics and support to work behaviors, attitudes, and stress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18(2), 159-180.

23.

Cropanzano

Kacmar

K. M.

Bozeman

D. P.

(1995). The social setting of work organizations: Politics, justice, and support. In Cropanzano

R. S.

Kacmar

K. M.

(Eds.), Organizational politics, justice, and support: Managing the social climate of the workplace (pp. 1-20). Greenwood.

24.

Cropanzano

Mitchell

M. S.

(2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900.

25.

Culiberg

Mihelic

K. K.

(2017). The evolution of whistleblowing studies: A critical review and research agenda. Journal of Business Ethics, 146, 787-803.

26.

Detert

J. R.

Burris

E. R.

(2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869-884.

27.

Detert

J. R.

Edmondson

A. C.

(2011). Implicit voice theories: Taken-for-granted rules of self-sensorship at work. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 461-488.

28.

Detert

J. R.

Treviño

L. K.

(2010). Speaking up to higher-ups: How supervisors and skip-level leaders influence employee voice. Organization Science, 21(1), 249-270.

29.

Drory

Romm

(1990). The definition of organizational politics: A review. Human Relations, 43(11), 1133-1154.

30.

Drory

Vigoda-Gadot

(2010). Organizational politics and human resource management: A typology and the Israeli experience. Human Resource Management Review, 20(3), 194-202.

31.

Edmondson

A. C.

(1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.

32.

Edmondson

A. C.

(2003a). Managing the risk of learning: Psychological safety in work teams. In West

Tjosvold

Smith

K. G.

(Eds.), International handbook of organizational teamwork and cooperative working (pp. 255-275). John Wiley.

33.

Edmondson

A. C.

(2003b). Speaking up in the operating room: How team leaders promote learning in interdisciplinary action teams. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1419-1452.

34.

Edmondson

A. C.

Lei

Z. K.

(2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 23-43.

35.

Eisenberger

Armeli

Rexwinkel

Lynch

P. D.

Rhoades

(2001). Reciprocation of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 42-51.

36.

Eisenberger

Fasolo

Davis-LaMastro

(1990). Perceived organizational support and employee diligence, commitment, and innovation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(1), 51-59.

37.

Eisenberger

Huntington

Hutchison

Sowa

(1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500-507.

38.

Emerson

R. M.

(1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 335-362.

39.

Farh

J. L.

Earley

P. C.

Lin

S. C.

(1997). Impetus for action: A cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(3), 421-444.

40.

Ferris

G. R.

Adams

Kolodinsky

R. W.

Hochwarter

W. A.

Ammeter

A. P.

(2002). Perceptions of organizational politics: Theory and research directions. In Yammarino

F. J.

Dansereau

(Eds.), Research in multi-level issues (Vol. 1, pp. 179-254). Emerald Group.

41.

Ferris

G. R.

Kacmar

K. M.

(1992). Perceptions of organizational politics. Journal of Management, 18(1), 93-116.

42.

Ferris

G. R.

Russ

G. S.

Fandt

P. M.

(1989). Politics in organizations. In Giacalone

R. A.

Rosenfeld

(Eds.), Impression management in the organization (pp. 143-170). Lawrence Erlbaum.

43.

Ferris

G. R.

Treadway

D. C.

Perrewé

P. L.

Brouer

R. L.

Douglas

Lux

(2007). Political skill in organizations. Journal of Management, 33(3), 290-320.

44.

Frazier

M. L.

Bowler

W. M.

(2015). Voice climate, supervisor undermining, and work outcomes: A group-level examination. Journal of Management, 41(3), 841-863.

45.

Gallup. (2015). Work and workplace survey. http://www.gallup.com/poll/1720/work-work-place.aspx

46.

Gao

Greenberg

Wong-On-Wing

(2015). Whistleblowing intentions of lower-level employees: The effect of reporting channel, bystanders, and wrongdoer power status. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(1), 85-99.

47.

Greenberg

(1987). A taxonomy of organizational justice theories. Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 9-22.

48.

Halbesleben

J. R. B.

Wheeler

A. R.

(2006). The relationship between perceptions of politics, social support, withdrawal and performance. In Vigoda-Gadot

Drory

(Eds.), Handbook of organizational politics (pp. 253-270). Edward Elgar.

49.

Harris

R. B.

Harris

K. J.

Harvey

(2007). A test of competing models of the relationships among perceptions of organizational politics, perceived organizational support, and individual outcomes. Journal of Social Psychology, 147(6), 631-655.

50.

Hayes

A. F.

(2015). PROCESS (Version 2.13.2) [Computer software]. Ohio State University. www.afhayes.com

51.

Hirschman

A. O.

(1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Harvard University Press.

52.

Hobfoll

S. E.

(1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513-524.

53.

Hobfoll

S. E.

(2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resources theory. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50(3), 337-421.

54.

Hochwarter

W. A.

(2012). The positive side of organizational politics. In Ferris

G. R.

Treadway

D. C.

(Eds.), Politics in orginizations: Theory and research considerations (pp. 27-65). Routledge; Taylor & Francis.

55.

Hochwarter

W. A.

Kacmar

Perrewé

P. L.

Johnson

(2003). Perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relationship between politics perceptions and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63(3), 438-456.

56.

Hunton

J. E.

Price

K. H.

Hall

T. W.

(1996). A field experiment examining the effects of membership in voting majority and minority subgroups and the ameliorating effects of postdecisional voice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 806-812.

57.

Johns

(2006). The essential impact of context on organizational behavior. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 386-408.

58.

Kacmar

K. M.

Bozeman

D. P.

Carlson

D. S.

Anthony

W. P.

(1999). An examination of the perceptions of organizational politics model: Replication and extension. Human Relations, 52(3), 383-416.

59.

Kacmar

K. M.

Ferris

G. R.

(1991). Perceptions of organizational politics scale (POPS): Development and construct validation. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51(1), 193-205.

60.

Kline

R. B.

(2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford.

61.

Kochan

T. A.

Yang

Kimball

W. T.

Kelly

E. L.

(2019). Worker voice in America: Is there a gap between what workers expect and what they experience? Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 72(1), 3-38.

62.

Kurtessis

J. N.

Eisenberger

Ford

M. T.

Buffardi

L. C.

Stewart

K. A.

Adis

C. S.

(2017). Perceived organizational support: A meta-analytic evaluation of organizational support theory. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1854-1884.

63.

Lacayo

Ripley

(2002, December 30). Persons of the year 2002: The whistleblowers. Time. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003998,00.html

64.

LePine

J. A.

Podsakoff

N. P.

LePine

M. A.

(2005). A meta-analytic test of the challenge stressor-hindrance stressor framework: An explanation for inconsistent relationships among stressors and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 48(5), 764-775.

65.

Levinson

(1965). Reciprocation: The relationship between man and organization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 9(4), 370-390.

66.

L.-Z.

Liu

Kwan

Liu

(2014). Insiders maintain voice: A psychological safety model of organizational politics. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 31(3), 853-874.

67.

Liang

Farh

C. I. C.

Farh

J. L.

(2012). Psychological antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voice: A two-wave examination. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 71-92.

68.

Loyens

(2013). Towards a custom-made whistleblowing policy: Using grid-group cultural theory to match policy measures to different styles of reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 114, 239-249.

69.

Lubalin

Ardini

M. E.

Matheson

J. L.

(1995). Consequences of whistleblowing for the whistleblower in misconduct in science cases: Final report. Research Triangle Institute. https://ori.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/final.pdf

70.

Maitlis

Ozcelik

(2004). Toxic decision processes: A study of emotion and organizational decision making. Organization Science, 15(4), 375-393.

71.

Marchington

Suter

(2013). Where informality really matters: Patterns of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in a non-union firm. Industrial Relations, 52(s1), 284-313.

72.

Maslyn

J. M.

Fedor

D. B.

(1998). Perceptions of politics: Does measuring different foci matter? Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4), 645-653.

73.

Maynes

T. D.

Podsakoff

P. M.

(2014). Speaking more broadly: An examination of the nature, antecedents, and consequences of an expanded set of employee voice behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(1), 87-112.

74.

McDonald

Ahern

(2000). The professional consequences of whistleblowing by nurses. Journal of Professional Nursing, 16, 313-321.

75.

Miceli

M. P.

Near

J. P.

(1994). Relationships among value congruence, perceived victimization, and retaliation against whistle-blowers. Journal of Management, 20, 773-794.

76.

Miller

B. K.

Rutherford

M. A.

Kolodinsky

R. W.

(2008). Perceptions of organizational politics: A meta-analysis of outcomes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22, 209-222.

77.

Milliken

F. J.

Morrison

E. W.

Hewlin

P. F.

(2003). An exploratory study of employee silence: Issues that employees don’t communicate upward and why. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1453-1476.

78.

Moorman

R. H.

Blakely

G. L.

(1995). Individualism-collectivism as an individual difference predictor of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(2), 127-142.

79.

Moorman

R. H.

Blakely

G. L.

Niehoff

B. P.

(1998). Does perceived organizational support mediate the relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behavior? Academy of Management Journal, 41(3), 351-357.

80.

Morrison

E. W.

(2011). Employee voice behavior: Integration and directions for future research. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 373-412.

81.

Morrison

E. W.

Milliken

F. J.

(2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706-725.

82.

Morrison

E. W.

Wheeler-Smith

S. L.

Kamdar

(2011). Speaking up in groups: A cross-level study of group voice climate and voice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), 183-191.

83.

Naseer

Raja

Syed

Donia

M. B. L.

Darr

(2016). Perils of being close to a bad leader in a bad environment: Exploring the combined effects of despotic leadership, leader member exchange, and perceived organizational politics on behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 14-33.

84.

T. W. H.

Feldman

D. C.

(2012). Employee voice behavior: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 216-234.

85.

Niehoff

B. P.

Moorman

R. H.

(1993). Justice as a mediator of the relationship between methods of monitoring and organizational citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 36(3), 527-556.

86.

Organ

D. W.

(1997). Organizational citizenship behavior: It’s construct clean-up time. Human Performance, 10(2), 85-97.

87.

Peelle

H. E.

(2007). Reciprocating perceived organizational support through citizenship behaviors. Journal of Managerial Issues, 19(4), 554-575.

88.

Pfeffer

(1981). Power in organizations. Pittman.

89.

Podsakoff

N. P.

Podsakoff

P. M.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Maynes

T. D.

Spoelma

T. M.

(2014). Consequences of unit-level organizational citizenship behaviors: A review and recommendations for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1), 87-119.

90.

Podsakoff

N. P.

Whiting

S. W.

Podsakoff

P. M.

Blume

B. D.

(2009). Individual- and organizational-level consequences of organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 122-141.

91.

Podsakoff

P. M.

Mackenzie

S. B.

(1994). Organizational citizenship behaviors and sales unit effectiveness. Journal of Marketing Research, 31(3), 351-363.

92.

Podsakoff

P. M.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Lee

J.-Y.

Podsakoff

N. P.

(2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903.

93.

Podsakoff

P. M.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Podsakoff

N. P.

(2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63(1), 539-569.

94.

Preacher

K. J.

Hayes

A. F.

(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879-891.

95.

Randall

M. L.

Cropanzano

Borman

C. A.

Birjulin

(1999). Organizational politics and organizational support as predictors of work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(2), 159-174.

96.

Rhoades

Eisenberger

(2002). Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 698-714.

97.

Rosen

C. C.

Ferris

D. L.

Brown

D. J.

Chen

Y. Y.

Yan

(2014). Perceptions of organizational politics: A need satisfaction paradigm. Organization Science, 25(4), 1026-1055.

98.

Rosen

C. C.

Levy

P. E.

Hall

R. J.

(2006). Placing perceptions of politics in the context of the feedback environment, employee attitudes, and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 211-220.

99.

Seibert

S. E.

Kraimer

M. L.

Crant

J. M.

(2001). What do proactive people do? A longitudinal model linking proactive personality and career success. Personnel Psychology, 54(4), 845-874.

100.

Stamper

C. L.

Johlke

M. C.

(2003). The impact of perceived organizational support on the relationship between boundary spanner role stress and work outcomes. Journal of Management, 29(4), 569-588.

101.

Stamper

C. L.

Van Dyne

(2001). Work status and organizational citizenship behavior: A field study of restaurant employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22(5), 517-536.

102.

Tangirala

Ramanujam

(2008). Exploring nonlinearity in employee voice: The effects of personal control and organizational identification. Academy of Management Journal, 51(6), 1189-1203.

103.

Thomas

J. P.

Whitman

D. S.

Viswesvaran

(2010). Employee proactivity in organizations: A comparative meta-analysis of emergent proactive constructs. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83, 275-300.

104.

Treadway

D. C.

Ferris

G. R.

Hochwarter

Witt

L. A.

Goodman

J. A.

(2005). The role of age in the perceptions of politics-job performance relationship: A three-study constructive replication. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 872-881.

105.

Tucker

Chmiel

Turner

Hershcovis

M. S.

Stride

C. B.

(2008). Perceived organizational support for safety and employee safety voice: The mediating role of coworker support for safety. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 13(4), 319-330.

106.

Van Dyne

Cummings

L. L.

McLean-Parks

. (1995). Extra-role behaviors: In pursuit of construct and definitional clarity. In Cummings

L. L.

Staw

B. M.

(Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 17, pp. 215-285). JAI Press.

107.

Van Dyne

LePine

J. A

. (1998). Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: Evidence of construct and predictive validity. Academy of Management Journal, 41(1), 108-119.

108.

Van Liedekerke

Dubbink

. (2008). Twenty years of European business ethics: Past developments and future concerns. Journal of Business Ethics, 82, 273-280.

109.

Williams

L. J.

Anderson

S. E.

(1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601-617.

110.

Williams

L. J.

Cote

J. A.

Buckley

M. R.

(1989). Lack of method variance in self-reported affect and perceptions at work: Reality or artifact. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(3), 462-468.

111.

Witt

L. A.

Patti

A. L.

Farmer

W. L.

(2002). Organizational politics and work identity as predictors of organizational oommitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(3), 486-499.