TY - JOUR
T1 - Social networks and employee voice
T2 - The influence of team members' and team leaders' social network positions on employee voice
AU - Venkataramani, Vijaya
AU - Zhou, Le
AU - Wang, Mo
AU - Liao, Hui
AU - Shi, Junqi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - We examine the role of employees' and team leaders' social network positions, an important, yet understudied class of variables, in affecting employees' voice behaviors. Using multi-level, multi-source data from 185 employees nested within 43 teams and their team leaders, we find that employees who hold central positions in the formal, workflow network in the team are more likely to speak up with ideas and suggestions. This relationship is weakened when they are central to the team's avoidance network. In addition to employees' own network positions, team leaders' positions in such informal networks also play a role in qualifying the employee workflow centrality-voice relationship. Specifically, the positive relationship between employees' workflow centrality and their voice is strengthened when their team leaders occupy central positions in the friendship network, but is weakened when they are central to the avoidance network in the team. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
AB - We examine the role of employees' and team leaders' social network positions, an important, yet understudied class of variables, in affecting employees' voice behaviors. Using multi-level, multi-source data from 185 employees nested within 43 teams and their team leaders, we find that employees who hold central positions in the formal, workflow network in the team are more likely to speak up with ideas and suggestions. This relationship is weakened when they are central to the team's avoidance network. In addition to employees' own network positions, team leaders' positions in such informal networks also play a role in qualifying the employee workflow centrality-voice relationship. Specifically, the positive relationship between employees' workflow centrality and their voice is strengthened when their team leaders occupy central positions in the friendship network, but is weakened when they are central to the avoidance network in the team. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
KW - Leadership
KW - Social networks
KW - Voice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84951097135&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.12.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84951097135
SN - 0749-5978
VL - 132
SP - 37
EP - 48
JO - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
JF - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
ER -