Can I control my actions and emotions? Examining when and why employees react adaptively or maladaptively to coworker voice

Abstract

Voice highlights important issues in the workplace, but it may be malfunctional if recipients do not possess the adequate mastery to act on the feedback received. Our research draws on the control value theory of emotions to explain how appraisals and affective processes shape employees' adaptive or maladaptive responses to challenge-oriented voices from their coworkers. We contend that constructive (destructive) coworker voice activates a positive (negative) affective state more strongly in recipients who perceive higher (vs. lower) behavioral control because they will attribute greater personal responsibility over the voice content. We also expect the affective states to predict interpersonal citizenship behavior and work withdrawal behavior more strongly in recipients with lower (vs. higher) emotional control due to their greater susceptibility to the influences of affective states. The results from three-wave, multi-source data collected from 307 insurance sales representatives support most of our hypotheses, except that perceived behavioral control does not moderate the link between destructive coworker voice and employee negative affective state. The findings extend voice literature by taking a recipient perspective on how and why they react differently to constructive or destructive coworker voice, and offer practical suggestions for facilitating optimal behavioral responses to coworker voice in an applied setting.