This document discusses employee "voice" strategies and their antecedents. It conceptualizes employee voice as speaking up about work-related issues with the intent to improve the work group, not merely to criticize. The study hypothesizes what predicts employees' speaking up and how they communicate their voice. A survey of 539 Japanese employees found they use various voice strategies, from direct to undisclosed. Direct strategists have strong intention and peer support, while undisclosed strategists have little peer support and perceive workplace partiality. The discussion calls for identifying appropriate frameworks and clarifying cultural influences on employee voice dynamics.

1. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
To “Voice” or Not,
and How?
Masaki Matsunaga
College of Business, Rikkyo Univ.

2. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Conceptualization of
Employee “Voice”
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3. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
About Work-Related Issues
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4. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Intend To Improve Work Group
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5. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
NOT Merely To Criticize
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6. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Challenge status quo = Risky
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7. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Hypotheses & RQ
of the Current Study
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8. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
What Predicts Employees’
Speaking Up?
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9. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
How Do Employees
Communicate Their “Voice”?
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10. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Method & Results
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11. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
 N = 539 full-timers in JPN
(Age M = 28.4 yrs, SD = 5.1)
 3-Wave Online Survey
(2-week interval; response rate = 77.0%)
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12. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
 “Voice” Strategy Measure
= Risky Revelation Strategies
(Afifi & Steuber, 2009)
 Directness  Preparation &
Rehearsal
 Incremental  Third-Party
Disclosure Revelation
 “Entrapment”  Indirect Medium
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13. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Direct (approx. 10%)
 Speak up “voice”
face-to-face
 Little use of CMC
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14. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Deniable (approx. 20%)
 Third-Party or
“Entrapment”
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15. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Careful (approx. 20%)
 Express “Voice”
only incrementally
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16. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Multichannel (approx. 8%)
 Express “Voice”
through various
channels
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17. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Undisclosed (approx. 45%)
 Almost no “voice”
 Vast majority
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18. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Discussion
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19. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Employees convey “voice”
through various approaches
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20. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Those who explicitly speak up
may NOT be true opinion leaders
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21. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Need to identify appropriate
theoretical frameworks
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22. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Need to explore nomological net
of employee voice dynamics
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23. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Need to clarify cultural influence
on employee voice dynamics
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24. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Need to develop and validate
a new measurement scale
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25. Thank you
Masaki Matsunaga
College of Business, Rikkyo Univ.
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27. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
What Predicts Employees’
Speaking Up?
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28. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Direct (approx. 10%)
 Strong intention
and peer support
 Impartial
supervisor
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29. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Deniable (approx. 20%)
 Strong intention,
but little support
 Strong partiality
at workplace
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30. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Careful (approx. 20%)
 Seek close tie with
supervisor
 Not affected by
peers or workplace
environment
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31. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Multichannel (approx. 8%)
 Fear missing
opportunities
 Strong support by
peers and impartial
supervisor
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32. Employee “Voice” Strategy Use and Its Antecedents
Undisclosed (approx. 45%)
 Little peer support
 Strong partiality
at workplace
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