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An emergent understanding of influences on managers’ voices in SMEs

Denise M. Cumberland (University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
Brad Shuck (University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
Jason Immekus (University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
Meera Alagaraja (University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 20 December 2017

Issue publication date: 29 March 2018

774

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the effect of supervisor openness on employee voice among middle management employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors develop a model to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction and employee engagement in the SME context.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey design was used to gather data from respondents who worked in SMEs (N=202). Exploratory factor analysis was used for dimensionality assessment of the voice measure. Mediation analysis was used to examine a two-mediator model to investigate the effects of engagement and job satisfaction on voice, and the degree these variables mediated the relationship of supervisor openness to ideas with employee voice.

Findings

Results revealed that supervisor openness is positively associated with job satisfaction and employee engagement, but only engagement was a facilitating variable that stimulated employee voice.

Research limitations/implications

Middle management members can be a conduit or inhibitor of the free flow of information. Yet, research has tended to ignore the role of middle managers in voice research. Moreover, within the specific organizational context of SMEs, greater understanding of both the antecedents and mediators to voice behavior is likely to impact the development of specific HR practices that focus on engagement and better facilitate two-way communication between supervisors and employees.

Originality/value

This work refines the understanding of the role employee engagement has on employee voice in the context of SMEs.

Keywords

Citation

Cumberland, D.M., Shuck, B., Immekus, J. and Alagaraja, M. (2018), "An emergent understanding of influences on managers’ voices in SMEs", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 234-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-09-2016-0222

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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