Effects of Leaders’ Positive/Negative Emotional Expression on Subordinates’ Voice Behavior: Mediation Effect of Subordinates’ Liking to Superiors

Abstract

Employees' voice could benefi t organizational development and progress; however, emotional mechanism to induce such a behavior still requires further research. This study investigates the relations between leaders' diff erent emotional expression and employees' voice behavior in China. By investigating 215 pairs of superior-subordinate samples of enterprises in China, it is discovered that leaders' positive emotional expression could enhance employees' voice, and the negative emotional expression would negatively aff ect employees' voice behavior. Meanwhile, subordinates' liking to superiors shows partial mediation eff ects on the eff ect of leaders' positive/negative emotional expression on employees' voice behavior. The research results reveal that leaders emphasize the function of positive emotional expression in organizational management. Future research could further investigate various infl uential paths and distinguish leaders' emotional expression.

Reading the Wind: Impacts of Leader Negative Emotional Expression on Employee Silence

“…Therefore, this study not only investigated the influence of leadership on employee silence behavior choice, but also confirmed an underlying moderating mechanism. Our findings further confirm previous findings that when employees are confronted with negative emotional expression from their leaders, employees’ voice behavior decreases ( Milliken et al, 2003 ; Chi et al, 2018 ; Song et al, 2019 ).…”

“…First, in the research on leaders’ negative emotional expression, most research has focused on the influence of leaders’ negative emotional expression on voice. For example, the study by Chi et al (2018) investigated the impact of leader negative emotional expression on employee upward voice, while the study by Song et al (2019) also took the influence of leaders’ negative emotional expression on subordinates’ voice as a research topic. In view of this, we found that the research on the effect of leader negative emotional expression on employee silence is extremely limited.…”

“…In view of this, we found that the research on the effect of leader negative emotional expression on employee silence is extremely limited. Some researchers have shown that the negative emotional expression of the leader will reduce the employee voice (e.g., Milliken et al, 2003 ; Chi et al, 2018 ; Song et al, 2019 ). However, voice and silence are two separate and different concepts.…”