Job autonomy and employee voice: is work-related self-efficacy a missing link?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, this work replicates the existing research by examining the links between job autonomy and work-related self-efficacy; and, second, it extends the literature by investigating the relationships between work-related self-efficacy and two forms of voice such as promotive and prohibitive and by measuring the mediating role of self-efficacy on the link between job autonomy and promotive and prohibitive voice.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a self-administered instrument to conduct a survey among 1,227 highly skilled employees. The researchers received a total of 904 questionnaires. After disregarding the non-usable questionnaires, the authors retained 813 questionnaires for the study. The overall response rate was 66 percent.

Findings

The results suggest that work-related self-efficacy has a significant relationship with prohibitive voice and mediates the link between job autonomy and prohibitive voice. Meanwhile, the findings of this study indicate that there is no significant association between work-related self-efficacy and promotive voice.

Originality/value

This work is the first to identify the association between work-related self-efficacy and prohibitive voice and the mediating role of work-related self-efficacy on the association between job autonomy and prohibitive voice.

Citation

Dedahanov, A.T., Rhee, C. and Gapurjanova, N. (2019), "Job autonomy and employee voice: is work-related self-efficacy a missing link?", Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 9, pp. 2401-2413. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-06-2017-0607