Employee Voice and Silence

Abstract

When employees voluntarily communicate suggestions, concerns, information about problems, or work-related opinions to someone in a higher organizational position, they are engaging in upward voice. When they withhold such input, they are displaying silence and depriving their organization of potentially useful information. In this article, I review the current state of knowledge about the factors and motivational processes that affect whether employees engage in upward voice or remain silent when they have concerns or relevant information to share. I also review the research findings on the organizational and individual effects of employee voice and silence. After presenting an integrated model of antecedents and outcomes, I offer some potentially fruitful questions for future research.