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The aim of this study is to explore and unpack the notion of lateral voice within the context of a Chinese hospital.

A qualitative design was used, involving interviews of 24 medical personnel from a public hospital in mainland China. This included two focus groups (eight participants each) of physicians and nurses, and eight individual interviews with managers, including a chief nurse and directors of the medical centre.

The findings reveal that in top-down contexts with a respect for hierarchy, direct and vertical voice is discouraged but lateral voice fills this gap and can lead in some circumstances to a pathway to collective vertical voice. Interestingly, the study finds that fear of damaging relationships with peers may also discourage lateral voice in some cases, leading to silence altogether. Contradictory lateral voice outcomes arising from employees working within this context are discussed.

The study makes an original contribution to voice literature through exploring an understudied voice target, that is, voicing to peers. In doing so, the study demonstrates the importance of lateral voice as an important component of voice behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to address an important gap in the literature by investigating the relationship between organizational climate and performance in small businesses.

Data were collected from 100 retail pharmacies in Sydney, Australia where a manager and up to three staff members and three buying customers were interviewed in each pharmacy.

Supportive climates tend to be associated with higher organizational performance (i.e. financial performance, staff satisfaction, customer satisfaction) in small retail pharmacies, and may reduce staff turnover.

The results suggest that managers should consider creating warm and supportive organizational climates to enhance business performance, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and increase employee tenure.

This paper is among the first to empirically establish a direct link between organizational climate and the performance of small businesses, in particular in retail pharmacies. Both financial and non‐financial measures of performance confirm reports based on larger firms that performance is enhanced in the presence of more supportive organizational climates. A further benefit of supportive climates, namely lower staff turnover in small businesses, was also evident.