The Joint Moderating Effects of Activated Negative Moods and Group Voice Climate on the Relationship between Power Distance Orientation and Employee Voice Behavior

Abstract

Employees inherently have concerns about the consequences of speaking up, and this is particularly notable for employees with high power distance orientation (PDO). Drawing on ideas from the dual-pathway model of mood and social information processing theory, we propose that activated negative mood and group voice climate can synergistically facilitate high-PDO employees` voice behaviors. Using a sample from 305 real-estate sales agents in 66 work groups in Taiwan, we examined the joint moderating effects of activated negative mood and group voice climate on employees` two forms of voice behavior. Our results show that PDO had a negative relationship with promotive voice but did not have a significant relationship with prohibitive voice. Nevertheless, our results show that in the situation where both activated negative mood and group voice climate were high, PDO no longer had a negative relationship with promotive voice, and even had a positive relationship with prohibitive voice. The findings of this study provide theoretical insights for the voice literature and offer practical suggestions for facilitating opinion expression in organisations. © 2017 International Association of Applied Psychology.