The Context of Voice: How Group, Organisational and Digital Contexts Shape Employee Voice

Abstract

Employee voice is vital for organisational improvement, yet most research has focused on dyadic interactions, typically between employee and manager. This thesis adopts a broader view of voice as a multilevel, contextually embedded phenomenon shaped by social actors, group dynamics, and digital affordances. Three empirical studies build sequentially to advance this perspective. Study 1, guided by role theory (Biddle, 1968), reviewed 268 articles (370 studies) and identified six social actors: voicers, endorsers, solicitors, implementers, allies, and bystanders. These social actors play an important role in shaping the voice process. My findings highlight a broader a system of interdependent actors whose interactions influence whether, how and when voice is heard, endorsed or implemented. Building on this, Study 2 examined voice in shared group contexts using Parker et al.’s (2010) proactive motivational states framework. An experimental vignette study tested how information redundancy and group diversity affect promotive and prohibitive voice. Building on previous research, I found that information redundancy had significant indirect effects on both voice types via diffusion of responsibility. There was a significant moderated mediation such that group diversity moderated the influence of information redundancy on both voice types via voice self-efficacy. Extending to a broader shared context, Study 3 applied affordance theory (Khan et al., 2023) and organisational social capital theory (Leana & van Buren, 1999) to investigate e-voice at the organisational level. Using machine learning, I analysed 347,305 Glassdoor posts from 301 U.S.-based organisations. Higher e-voice quantity and positive sentiment predicted stronger organisational performance, mediated by positive word of mouth. Together, these studies show voice is a multilevel process shaped by roles, group dynamics and digital platforms, offering new theoretical and methodological insights for enabling voice.