| Description |
The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce a new aspect of employee voice, namely voice contagion. Voice contagion is a process in which employee voice spreads from a speaker to his or her coworkers. While previous research has done much to elucidate the conditions necessary to enable employees to express voice and the affect such expressions can have on targets of voice, we know surprisingly little about how expressions of voice influence third-party observers. Drawing upon the findings of an inductive study conducted in the hospital setting and previous research on employee voice and behavioral contagion, I develop a grounded model of the voice contagion process. I then implement an experimental design to test one of the emergent voice contagion pathways. More specifically, I test for the influence a speaker’s social status has on observers’ voice behavior. I conclude the dissertation by discussing the theoretical contributions this research makes to the employee voice, social influence, and citizenship behavior literatures, respectively. |
