Exploring the Influence of Ethical Leadership on Voice Behavior: How Leader-Member Exchange, Psychological Safety and Psychological Empowerment Influence Employees’ Willingness to Speak Out

• Main Authors: Yixin Hu, Liping Zhu, Mengmeng Zhou, Jie Li, Phil Maguire, Haichao Sun, Dawei Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: ethical leadership; leader-member exchange; psychological safety; psychological empowerment; voice behavior
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01718/full

The study of voice behavior examines the inclination of staff and team members to speak up and contribute ideas to the team. In this article, we investigate how factors such as leader-member exchange (LMX), psychological safety and psychological empowerment influence such behavior. Our findings, which are based on a sample of 308 employees working for a state-owned telecommunications company in China, indicate that ethical leadership promotes employees’ voice behavior through enhanced LMX, which also leads to greater feelings of psychological safety and psychological empowerment. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.