Are Non-Work Elements Impacting My Voice? A Study on Influences of Employee Voice Behavior in SMEs

• In Event: 40254 - Student Forum Open Topic Paper Session

Abstract

For surviving in the complex and changing external environment, the manager of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly needs employees to provide opinions and wisdom for the development of the organization. Being an employee-driven extra-role behavior, employee voice behavior brings positive impact to the organization through employees’ subjective initiative, which makes the exploration of voice behavior at the current stage attract dual attention from both practice and theory.
This study builds a framework for the impact of work connectivity behavior after-hours and family-work enrichment on voice behavior of SME employees by relying on the Conservation of Resource Theory and the Job Demand-Resource Model based on a review of the existing literature on voice behavior. A combination of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires was used to identify the characteristics of SME employees’ work connectivity behavior after-hours, and the study chose to use a well-established scale as a measurement tool for SME employees.
Taking the valid data of 208 Chinese employees as a sample, the study conducted empirical analysis and hypothesis testing by using SPSS and AMOS. The results of the study show that: (1) For the employees of SMEs, surprisingly, work connectivity behavior after-hours displays positive characteristics of work resources rather than work demands and has a significant positive relationship with employees’ voice behavior; (2) Family-work enrichment, as an intrinsic work resource for the employees of SMEs, has a significant positive relationship with employees’ voice behavior; (3) Work engagement plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between work connectivity behavior after-hours and voice behaviors, while the mediating role of emotional exhaustion is not significant, i.e., work connectivity behavior after-hours positively influences employees’ voice behavior through the gain path of work engagement; (4) Work engagement plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between family-work enrichment and voice behavior. Hereby, this study provides suggestions and references for the management practice of voice behavior in small and medium-sized enterprises from the perspectives of work connectivity behavior after-hours and family-work enrichment.

Authors

• Xiangjing Guo, Harbin Institute of Technology

• Li Zhang