How does paternalistic leadership affect employee silence in the Chinese context? A mediated three-way interaction model

Abstract

Although employee involvement is playing an increasingly important role in contemporary human resource management, the phenomenon of employee silence is prevalent in the workplace. This study examines how leader benevolence and authoritarianism, the two components of paternalistic leadership, affect employee silence in the Chinese context. Data from 415 employees nested in 42 workgroups provide evidence for a cross-level, three-way interaction between benevolent leadership and authoritarian leadership and employee collective identity predicting employee silence. Specifically, benevolent-authoritarian leadership predicts the lowest employee silence behavior when an employee holds a high level of collective identity. This three-way interaction effect is mediated by employee interpersonal justice. Our study extends the knowledge of employee voice/silence behavior in the Chinese cultural setting by shedding light on the role of leadership characteristics. To reduce employee silence, organizations should provide training to improve leaders' skills to balance authoritarianism with benevolence, as well as activate employees' collective identity to further enhance the effectiveness of paternalistic management.