Employee engagement in voice at times of crisis: COVID-19 pandemic as an example

Abstract

Purpose: During crises and unpredictable events, organizational leadership faces time constraints for making decisions. Decisions are, therefore, often centralized. However, such centralized decision-making processes frequently deprive the organizations of vital inputs coming from the employees, who are usually closer to the problems and the customers. Therefore, this paper aims how employees engage in voice during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that forced various organizations to resort to remote work without prior planning. Methodology: To explore how employees engage in voice during a crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the study relied on qualitative analysis and used three focus groups with 15 participants working at a German international organization operating in Egypt as a bilateral development partner with the Egyptian government. The responses were later subject to content analysis. Findings: Unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the employees to work remotely. Due to the availability of certain antecedents, the employees engaged in a promotive voice that was primarily informal, expressed individually and collectively, directed to managers and peers, and frequent at the onset of the pandemic but diminishing later on. Originality: The study offers in-depth insights into how a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic changes the nature of work, the different antecedents that encourage the employees to engage in voice in times of crisis, and the nature of this voice during the crisis.