Uniwersyteckie Czasopisma NaukoweCome and say what you think: reducing employees’ self-censorship through procedural and interpersonal justice
Słowa kluczowe:
self-censorship, procedural justice, interpersonal justice, employee silence beliefs, acquiescent silence, quiescent silenceAbstrakt
Background
Self-censorship in an organization may be defined as a conscious decision by employees to refrain from expressing opinions, criticism or suggestions in situations of perceived irregularities. There are at least two reasons for this decision: firstly, the fear that speaking up would prompt negative consequences, and secondly, the belief that it would not bring about a change in the situation. Procedural justice in an organization may encourage employees to limit that silence, thereby diminishing fear and undermining the belief that change is impossible.
Participants and procedure
A set of three studies (total number of participants N = 710) was conducted in order to determine whether procedural justice predicts self-censorship and also to define the role of interpersonal justice in this relationship. It was assumed that procedural justice, while useful in the formation of an impartial and rigid legal system within an organization, is constrained by its disregard for personal relations.
Results
It was found that when employees perceive a work environment as providing influence over procedures, they declare less self-censorship motivated by fear and resignation. In high interpersonal justice conditions the role of procedural justice in predicting employee self-censorship as well as employee silence beliefs increases.
Conclusions
Both fair treatment of all employees and the contextual and need-centered nature of such treatment should be integrated if self-censorship is to be reduced. The results confirm this conclusion for self-censorship (decision) and employee silence beliefs (belief that relations within the organization do not encourage people to speak up).
Downloads
Bibliografia
Adamska, K. (2017). Self-censorship in organizations. In D. Bar-Tal, R. Nets-Zehngut, & K. Sharvit (Eds.), Self-censorship in contexts of conflict: Theory and research (pp. 41–60). Springer International Publishing.
Adamska, K., & Jurek, P. (2017). Adaptation of the Four Forms of Employee Silence Scale in a Polish sample. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 5, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2017.68335.
Adamska, K., & Retowski, S. (2012). Verbalization of the psychological contract: a diagnostic tool. In M. Lipowski & Z. Nieckarz (Eds.), Empirical aspects of the psychology of management (pp. 58–97). Wyższa Szkoła Administracji i Biznesu w Gdyni.
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage Publications.
Allen, S. (2013). An interpretation of care and justice through the concepts of a Kantian & Confucian ethic. Retrieved from https://www.academia. edu/11638319/An_Interpretation_of_Care_and_ Justice_through_the_concepts_of_a_Kantian_ and_Confucian_Ethic/.
Argyris, C., & Schon, D. (1978). Organisational learning: A theory of action perspective. Addison Wesley.
Bauman, C. W., & Skitka, L. J. (2009). Moral disagreement and procedural justice: Moral mandates as constraints to voice effects. Australian Journal of Psychology, 61, 40–49. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00049530802607647.
Bar-Tal, D., Nets-Zehngut, R., & Sharvit, K. (Eds.) (2017). Self-censorship in contexts of conflict: Theory and research. Springer International Publishing.
Beer, M., & Eisenstat, R. E. (2000). The silent killers of strategy implementation and learning. MIT Sloan Management Review, 41, 29–40.
Blader, S. L., & Tyler, T. R. (2009). Testing and extending the group engagement model: Linkages between social identity, procedural justice, economic outcomes and extra-role behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 445–464. https://doi. org/10.1037/a0013935.
Botero, I. C., & Van Dyne, L. (2009). Employee voice behavior. Interactive effects of LMX and power distance in the United States and Colombia. Management Communication Quarterly, 23, 84–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318909335415.
Botes, A. (2001). A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethic of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32, 1071–1075. https://doi.org/10.1046/j. 1365-2648.2000.01576.xC.
Brebels, L., De Cremer, D., Sedikides, C., & Van Hiel, A. (2013). Self-focus and procedural fairness: The role of self-rumination and self-reflection. Social Justice Research, 26, 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11211-013-0180-4.
Chen, Y., Brockner, J., & Greenberg, J. (2003). When is it a ‘‘pleasure to do business with you?’’ The effects of status, outcome favorability, and procedural fairness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 92, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0749-5978(03)00062-1.
Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: a meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 278–321. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.2001.2958.
Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 386–400. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.86.3.386.
Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, Ch., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: a metaanalytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425– 445. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.86.3.425.
Colquitt, J. A., & Rodell, J. B. (2015). Measuring justice and fairness. In R. S. Cropanzano & M. L. Ambrose (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of justice in the workplace (pp. 187–202). Oxford University Press.
Cortina, L. M., & Magley, V. J. (2003). Raising voice, risking retaliation: Events following interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 247–265. https://doi. org/10.1037/1076-8998.8.4.247.
Covarrubias, P. (2007). (Un)Biased in Western theory: Generative silence in American Indian communication. Communication Monographs, 74, 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750701393071.
Creed, W. E. D., Hudson, B. A., Okhuysen, G. A., & Smith-Crowe, K. (2014). Swimming in a sea of shame: Incorporating emotion into explanations of institutional reproduction and change. Academy of Management Review, 39, 275-301. https://doi. org/10.5465/amr.2012.0074.
De Cremer, D., & Sedikides, C. (2005). Self-uncertainty and responsiveness to procedural justice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2004.06.010.
Detert, J. R., & Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Implicit voice theories: Taken-for-rules of self-censorship at work. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 461–488. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2011.61967925.
Donaghey, J., Cullinane, N., Dundon, T., & Wilkinson, A. (2011). Reconceptualizing employee silence: Problems and prognosis. Work, Employment & Society, 25, 51–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017010389239.
Esposo, S. R., Hornsey, M. J., & Spoor, J. R. (2013). Shooting the messenger: Outsiders critical of your group are rejected regardless of argument quality. British Journal of Social Psychology, 52, 386–395. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12024.
Fast, N. J., Burris, E. R., & Bartel, C. A. (2014). Managing to stay in the dark: Managerial self-efficacy, ego defensiveness, and the aversion to employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 57, 1013– 1034. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.0393.
Folger, R. (1977). Distributive and procedural justice: Combined impact of “voice” and improvement on experienced inequity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 108–119. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-3514.35.2.108.
Ford, B. Q., & Mauss, I. B. (2015). Culture and emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology 3, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2014.12.00.
Gao, L., Janssen, O., & Shi, K. (2011). Leader trust and employee voice: The moderating role of empowering leader behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 22, 787– 798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.05.015.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (2006). From in a different voice to the birth of pleasure: an intellectual journey. North Dakota Law Review, 81, 729.
Grant, A. M. (2012). Rocking the boat but keeping it steady: The role of emotion regulation in employee voice. The Academy of Management Journal, 56, 1703–1723. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0035.
Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Erlbaum.
Hamington, M. (2011). Care ethics, knowledge management, and the learning organization. In M. Hamington & M. Sander-Staudt (Eds.), Applying care ethics to business (pp. 245–258). Springer.
Hamington, M. (2019). Integrating care ethics and design thinking. Journal of Business Ethics, 155, 91–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3522-6.
Hirak, R., Peng, A. C., Carmeli, A., & Schaubroeck, J. M. (2012). Linking leader inclusiveness to work unit performance: The importance of psychological safety and learning from failures. The Leadership Quarterly, 23, 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. leaqua.2011.11.009.
Holmvall, C. M., & Bobocel, D. R. (2008). What fair procedures say about me: Self-construals and reactions to procedural fairness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105, 147–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.09.001.
Jeffries, C. H., & Hornsey, M. J. (2012). Withholding negative feedback: Is it about protecting the self or protecting others? British Journal of Social Psychology, 51, 772–780. https://doi.org/10.1111/j. 2044-8309.2012.02098.
Judge, T. A., & Colquitt, J. A. (2004). Organizational justice and stress: The mediating role of work-family conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 395– 404. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.395.
Kawabata, M., & Gastaldo, D. (2015). The less said, the better: Interpreting silence in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915618123.
Kish-Gephart, J. J., Detert, J. R., Trevino, L. K., & Edmondson, A. C. (2009). Silenced by fear: The nature, sources, and consequences of fear at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 29, 163–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2009.07.002.
Knoll. M., & van Dick, R. (2013). Do I hear the whistle...? A first attempt to measure four forms of employee silence and their correlates. Journal of Business Ethics, 113, 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10551-012-1308-4.
Knoll, M., Neves, P., Schyns, B., & Meyer, B. (2021). A multi-level approach to direct and indirect relationships between organizational voice climate, team manager openness, implicit voice theories, and silence. Applied Psychology, 70, 606–642. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12242.
Knoll, M., Wegge, J., Unterrainer, C., Silva, S., & Jønsson, T. (2016). Is our knowledge of voice and silence in organizations growing? Building bridges and (re) discovering opportunities. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 30, 161–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002216649857.
Lee, F. (1993). Being polite and keeping MUM: How bad news is communicated in organizational hierarchies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 1124–1149. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816. 1993.tb01025.x.
LePine, J. A., & Van Dyne, L. (2001). Voice and cooperative behavior as contrasting forms of contextual performance: Evidence of differential relationships with Big Five personality characteristics and cognitive ability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 325– 336. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.86.2.326.
LeRoy, J., Bastounis, M., & Minibas-Poussard, J. (2012). Interactional justice and counterproductive work behaviors: The mediating role of negative emotions. Social Behaviour and Personality, 40, 1341– 1356. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2012.40.8.1341.
Metz, T., & Miller, S. C. (2016). Relational ethics. In H. LaFollette (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of ethics (pp. 1–10). Wiley-Blackwell.
Miceli, M. P., Near, J. P., & Dworkin, T. M. (2009). A word to the wise: How managers and policymakers can encourage employees to report wrongdoing. Journal of Business Ethics, 86, 379–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9853-6.
Morrison, E. W. (2014). Employee voice and silence. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 173–197. https://doi. org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091328.
Morrison, E. W., Chen, Y. R., & Salgado, S. R. (2004). Cultural differences in newcomer information seeking: a comparison of the United States and Hong Kong. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464- 0597.2004.00158.x.
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: a barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25, 706–725. https://doi.org/10.2307/259200.
Morrison, E. W., Wheeler-Smith, S. L., & Kamdar, D. (2011). Speaking up in groups: a cross-level study of group voice climate and voice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 183–191. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0020744.
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (1985). Organizational dissidence: The case of whistle-blowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/ BF00382668.
Nechanska, E., Hughes, E., & Dundon, T. (2020). Towards an integration of employee voice and silence. Human Resource Management Review, 30, 100674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2018.11.002.
Noelle-Neumann, E. (1993). The spiral of silence: Public opinion, our social skin. University of Chicago Press. Overbeck, J. R., Tiedens, L. Z., & Brion, S. (2006). The powerful want to, the powerless have to: Perceived constraint moderates causal attributions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 479– 496. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.353.
Packer, D. J. (2014). On not airing our dirty laundry: Intergroup contexts suppress ingroup criticism among strongly identified group members. British Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 93–111. https://doi. org/10.1111/bjso.12017.
Paley J. (2002). Caring as a slave morality: Nietzschean themes in nursing ethics. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 40, 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365- 2648.2002.02337.x.
Perlow, L. A., & Repenning, N. P. (2009). The dynamics of silencing conflict. Research in Organizational Behaviour, 29, 195–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. riob.2009.06.007.
Perlow, L. A., & Williams, S. (2003). Is silence killing your company? Harvard Business Review, 81, 52–58.
Pinder, C., & Harlos, K. (2001). Employee silence: Quiescence and acquiescence as responses to perceived injustice. In G. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (pp. 331–369). JAI Press.
Pollard, C. (2015). What is the right thing to do: Use of a relational ethic framework to guide clinical decision-making. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8, 362–368.
Rawls, J. (1999). The theory of justice. Oxford University Press.
Reimer, T., Reimer, A., & Czienskowski, U. (2010). Decision-making groups attenuate the discussion bias in favor of shared information: a meta-analysis. Communication Monographs, 77, 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750903514318.
Rego, A., & Pina a Cunha, M. (2010). Organizational justice and citizenship behaviors: a study in the Portuguese cultural context. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 59, 404–430. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2009.00405.x.
Retowski, S., Adamska, K., & Konarski, R. (2017). More justice in Polish organizations, but only for men. Paper presented at EAWOP, Dublin, May 17-20, 2017.
Rumsey, J. P. (1997). Justice, care, and questionable dichotomies. Hypatia, 12, 99–113. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00173.x.
Sandel, M. (1998). Liberalism and the limits of justice. Cambridge University Press.
Sedikides, C., & Gregg, A. P. (2008). Self-enhancement: Food for thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1745-6916.2008.00068.x.
Skitka, L. J. (2003). Of different minds: an accessible identity approach to why and how people think about justice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 286–297. https://doi.org/10.1207/S153279 57PSPR0704_02.
St. Clair, R. (2003). The social and cultural construction of silence. Intercultural Communication Studies, 12, 87–91.
Tahmasebi, F., Sobhanipour, S. M., & Aghaziarati, M. (2013). Burnout: Explaining the role of organizational silence and its influence (case study: selected executive organizations of Qom Province). Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 3, 272–282.
Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. (2008). Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross-level effects of procedural justice climate. Personnel Psychology, 61, 37–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744- 6570.2008.00105.x.
Tushman, M., & Nadler, D. (1978). Information processing as an integrating concept in organizational design. Academy of Management Review, 3, 613–624. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1978.4305791.
Tyler, T. R., & Lind, E. A. (1992). A relational model of authority in groups. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 595–629). McGraw-Hill.
Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: a psychological analysis. Erlbaum.
Van den Bos, K., & Lind, E. A. (2010). The social psychology of fairness and the regulation of personal uncertainty. In R. M. Arkin, K. C. Oleson, & P. J. Carroll (Eds.), The uncertain self: a handbook of perspectives from social and personality psychology (pp. 122–141). Psychology Press.
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S., & Botero, I. C. (2003). Conceptualizing employee silence and employee voice as multidimensional constructs. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1359–1392. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/1467-6486.00384.
van Prooijen, J. W. (2009). Procedural justice as autonomy regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1166–1180. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0014153.
van Prooijen, J. W., van den Bos, K., & Wilke, H. A. M. (2002). Procedural justice and status: Status salience as antecedent of procedural fairness effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1353– 1361. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1353.
van Prooijen, J. W., & Zwenk, F. (2009). Self-construal level and voice procedures: The individual self as psychological basis for procedural fairness effects. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 392– 397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.10.008.
Wenzel, M. (2000). Justice and identity: The significance of inclusion for perceptions of entitlement and the justice motive. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 157–176. https://doi. org/10.1177/0146167200264004.
Wiener, N. (1950). On human use of human beings. Cybernetics and society. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Wilkinson, A., & Dundon, T. (2017). Employee involvement and participation. In A. Wilkinson, T. Redman, & T. Dundon (Eds.), Contemporary human resource management (5th ed.) (pp. 402–428). Pearson Education Limited.
Wilkinson, A., Gollan, P., Marchington, M., & Lewin, D. (2010). Conceptualizing employee participation in organizations. In A. Wilkinson, P. Gollan, M. Marchington, & D. Lewin (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of employee participation in organizations (pp. 4–25). Oxford University Press.
Zill, A., Knoll, M., Cook, A., & Meyer, B. (2020). When do followers compensate for leader silence? The motivating role of leader injustice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 27, 65–79. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1548051818820861.
