Instilling employees with meaning to communicate: servant leadership affecting employee voice behavior through meaning

Purpose This study aims to analyze the connection between servant leadership and the promotive and prohibitive voice behavior of employees. In addition, this study explained how servant leadership affects promotive and prohibitive voice behavior through meaning. Design/methodology/approach For this study, data were collected from employee–manager dyads employed in the service sector. Each of the waves was initiated two months after the first wave. Finally, 286 useful responses were obtained. The collected data was analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings Servant leadership is related with meaning, promotive voice behavior and prohibitive voice behavior. Meaning is found to mediate the relationship between servant leadership and the two facets of voice behavior. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the mediating role of meaning relating servant leadership to promotive and prohibitive voice behavior.