Supervisor Incivility and Employee Silence: Does Chinese Traditionality Matter?

Abstract

Research to date has largely been unclear about the relationship between supervisor incivility and employee silence. In the current research, based on social exchange theory, we examine the extent to which Chinese traditionality moderates the relationship between supervisor incivility and employee silence. Collecting 245 employee's data, we show that supervisor incivility is associated with employee silence. Moreover, we find that Chinese traditionality moderates the main effect negatively, such that the higher employees with Chinese traditionality, the weaker the relationship between supervisor incivility and employee silence; the lower employees with Chinese traditionality, the stronger the relationship between supervisor incivility and employee silence; Implications for theory and practice are discussed.