In what ways do Chinese employees speak up? An exchange approach to supervisor-subordinate guanxi and voice behavior

摘要

Few studies have investigated the effect of supervisor-subordinate guanxi (s-s guanxi) on employee voice behavior. From a social exchange perspective, the current study sheds light on the effect of s-s guanxi on employee voice behavior through the mediating roles of psychological ownership and psychological empowerment. A theoretical model is developed and empirically tested with a sample of 299 supervisor-subordinate dyads. The results generally support our hypothesis that s-s guanxi can influence employee voice through the mediating roles of psychological ownership and psychological empowerment. However, counter to our hypothesis, we find no support for psychological ownership mediating between s-s guanxi and promotive voice. Implications and contributions are discussed.