Shuqi Li, Russell E Johnson, Hun Whee Lee, Brent A Scott
{"title":"Inspired to be transformational: The interplay between employee voice type and manager construal level","authors":"Shuqi Li, Russell E Johnson, Hun Whee Lee, Brent A Scott","doi":"10.1177/00187267241288680","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The power to ignite change in organizations does not rest solely with managers—it can also stem from employees. Employee voice, the upward communication of change-related information, can be a powerful catalyst for inspiring managers to be transformational. To examine how this process unfolds, we utilize the transmission model of inspiration as a theoretical foundation for identifying when and for whom employee voice inspires managers to exhibit change-oriented behavior. Using experience sampling (Study 1) and critical incident (Study 2) methods, we find that employee promotive voice evokes manager inspiration, which in turn motivates managers to enact transformational behavior. In contrast, prohibitive voice, by itself, is not associated with managers’ inspiration and transformational behavior. However, manager trait construal level serves as a critical boundary condition. Managers with a higher-level construal are more likely to be inspired by prohibitive voice because they are more likely to recognize the potential value of such voice, approach it with great interest, and link it to organizational goals. Our study extends knowledge on the consequences of voice by elucidating its impact on managers’ transformational behavior and addresses a critical gap in leadership research by spotlighting the influence that followers have on leaders.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Human Relations","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267241288680","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The power to ignite change in organizations does not rest solely with managers—it can also stem from employees. Employee voice, the upward communication of change-related information, can be a powerful catalyst for inspiring managers to be transformational. To examine how this process unfolds, we utilize the transmission model of inspiration as a theoretical foundation for identifying when and for whom employee voice inspires managers to exhibit change-oriented behavior. Using experience sampling (Study 1) and critical incident (Study 2) methods, we find that employee promotive voice evokes manager inspiration, which in turn motivates managers to enact transformational behavior. In contrast, prohibitive voice, by itself, is not associated with managers’ inspiration and transformational behavior. However, manager trait construal level serves as a critical boundary condition. Managers with a higher-level construal are more likely to be inspired by prohibitive voice because they are more likely to recognize the potential value of such voice, approach it with great interest, and link it to organizational goals. Our study extends knowledge on the consequences of voice by elucidating its impact on managers’ transformational behavior and addresses a critical gap in leadership research by spotlighting the influence that followers have on leaders.
期刊介绍:
Human Relations is an international peer reviewed journal, which publishes the highest quality original research to advance our understanding of social relationships at and around work through theoretical development and empirical investigation. Scope Human Relations seeks high quality research papers that extend our knowledge of social relationships at work and organizational forms, practices and processes that affect the nature, structure and conditions of work and work organizations. Human Relations welcomes manuscripts that seek to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to develop new perspectives and insights into social relationships and relationships between people and organizations. Human Relations encourages strong empirical contributions that develop and extend theory as well as more conceptual papers that integrate, critique and expand existing theory. Human Relations welcomes critical reviews and essays: - Critical reviews advance a field through new theory, new methods, a novel synthesis of extant evidence, or a combination of two or three of these elements. Reviews that identify new research questions and that make links between management and organizations and the wider social sciences are particularly welcome. Surveys or overviews of a field are unlikely to meet these criteria. - Critical essays address contemporary scholarly issues and debates within the journal''s scope. They are more controversial than conventional papers or reviews, and can be shorter. They argue a point of view, but must meet standards of academic rigour. Anyone with an idea for a critical essay is particularly encouraged to discuss it at an early stage with the Editor-in-Chief. Human Relations encourages research that relates social theory to social practice and translates knowledge about human relations into prospects for social action and policy-making that aims to improve working lives.