员工建言促进工作绩效:谦卑领导的调节作用

Employee Voice Improves Job Performance:The Moderating Effect of Humble Leadership

员工建言虽然有益于组织发展,但是对员工个人却并不总是有利,建言行为对员工自身发展的影响取决于管理者对建言的态度和回应。这方面的实证研究非常有限,并且更多研究探讨忽视和负面评价等消极领导因素在员工建言积极效应实现中的阻碍作用,而较少探讨谦卑领导这样一种积极领导因素对员工建言积极效应发挥的促进作用。在已有研究基础上,基于群体卷入模型的视角,探讨管理者的谦卑领导行为在员工建言与工作绩效关系间的调节作用,并检验组织自尊在其间发挥的中介作用。收集湖北省和江苏省多家企业的367对有效的上-下级配对数据,采用有中介的调节作用检验方法进行实证检验。研究结果表明,①谦卑领导在员工建言和工作绩效的关系间发挥正向调节作用,作为建言对象的管理者谦卑领导水平越高,员工建言对工作绩效的积极影响越强;②谦卑领导在员工建言与组织自尊的关系间发挥正向调节作用,管理者的谦卑领导水平越高,员工建言对组织自尊的积极影响也越强;③组织自尊在谦卑领导与员工建言交互影响工作绩效的过程中发挥中介作用,即员工建言既可能出于对组织利益和发展的关心,也可能出于对自身群体身份和地位信息的寻求,而具有谦卑领导特征的管理者更可能对员工建言持开放态度并给予积极回应,有助于向建言者传递组织对其努力和价值的尊重、重视和认可等有关群体身份和地位的重要信息,增强建言者的组织自尊,进而激发其后续努力工作的动机并做出良好绩效。此即"谏者有为"效应实现机制的一种解释。探讨谦卑领导在员工建言与工作绩效关系间的调节作用,既是对近年来研究者呼吁探讨领导反馈在员工建言效应机制中的重要作用的积极响应,也是对已有研究的有益拓展。研究结果可以为组织管理实践提供有益启示,提醒管理者应重视建言行为在员工激励中的重要作用,不仅要鼓励和引导员工积极建言,还要对员工建言进行积极倾听和回应。

It is generally accepted that employee voice is good for organizational development.However,employee voice may not always bring positive outcomes to themselves.Some recent research showed that whether employee voice is good or not for an employee’s development depends on supervisory attitude and responsiveness.At present,the empirical researches on this topic are still very limited.Moreover,the existing researches mainly focused on the negative role of some negative leadership characters(e.g.,neglect,negative evaluation)on the relationship between employee voice and the important outcomes.Based on the group engagement model,this research studied the moderating effect of humble leadership on the relationship between employee voice and job performance.Furthermore,the mediating role of employees’organization-based self-esteem(OBSE)was also examined.A total of 367 sets of supervisor-subordinate matching questionnaires were collected.A hypothetical mediated moderator model was proposed and tested.Results indicated that humble leadership significantly moderates the relationship between employee voice and job performance.The higher the level of supervisors’humble leadership,the stronger the positive influence of employee voice on their job performance.Further,humble leadership can also moderate the relationship between employee voice and their OBSE.The higher the level of supervisors’humble leadership,the stronger the positive influence of employee voice on their OBSE.In addition,the interactive effect of humble leadership and employee voice on job performance is mediated by OBSE.In other words,employee voice may be an important way through which employees seek for the important information about their group status or value.Humble supervisors are more likely to be open to employee voice and make positive response.Then the positive attitude and response of humble supervisors can make employees feel respected and recognized which,in turn,motivates them to work actively and hard.Lastly,their job performance will improve accordingly.This is a new perspective for people to understand why employee voice makes employees better.This research was not only active response to the recent call for studying the important role of leadership during the relationship of employee voice and important outcomes,but also a beneficial extension of the existing researches.The findings can provide useful implications for organizational management practices.They suggest that managers should pay attention to the significance of employee voice in motivating them to achieve higher performance.In addition to encouraging and guiding employees’to raise their voice,managers should also listen and respond to employee voice carefully and positively.