Development and Validation of an Employee Voice Strategy Scale through Four Studies in Japan

Abstract

Employee voice is an important organizational behavior that affects work group performance, and many studies have explored its mechanism; nonetheless, the existing literature narrowly defines the construct and overlooks a variety of strategic approaches employees take as they engage in voice. Based on this problematization, the current research has developed and validated a scale of employee voice strategy through four studies in Japan (total N = 1,156). Employee voice strategy is defined as a set of direct and indirect communicative approaches that organizational members utilize to share ideas with intentions to exert constructive influence to their work group. Studies 1 and 2 analyzed interview narratives to develop an initial typology, which was refined in Study 3 into a six‐factor scale. Study 4 replicated it through confirmatory factor analyses. Construct validity of the scale was also examined by testing the strategy factors’ nomological network—as expected, proactive personality was positively associated with assertive strategies, while relationship maintenance goal orientation was linked to conciliatory, nonconfrontational strategies; negative emotion display showed negative associations with voice strategy use in general. These findings were discussed vis‐à‐vis culturally inclusive human resource management practices, as well as theoretical exploration of the employee voice phenomena from process‐centered perspectives. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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