Employee Voice and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX): A Comprehensive Review and Implications for HRM

Abstract

Employees in businesses are frequently confronted with situations in which they must choose whether to remain silent or speak up (i.e., voice) when they have potentially valuable information or opinions. Employee voice has assumed a significant part in decision-making and has been researched in a variety of disciplines, generating a massive amount of literature on the subject. However, employee voice has been conceptualised differently across a wide scope of fields, resulting in a paucity of integrative theories and frameworks on the subject. The theoretical, measurement, and analytic appropriateness of employee voice studies are examined in relation to research on the notion of in complete paper exchange. It is demonstrated that through time, the conceptual definitions of leader–member exchange and its sub-dimensions have varied, with little cause or reason given for the modifications. Similarly, the methods used to obtain employee voice have varied greatly and include a wide range of item content. The primary objective of this paper is to conduct a multidisciplinary review of academic research on employee voice and leader–member exchange. For the present study, about 60 research studies were analysed, of which 35 were found appropriate for the present literature review purpose. After reviewing these studies, the relationship between employee voice and leader–member exchange was found to be positive and significant. Some studies had revealed the reverse effect of leader–member exchange on employee voice, thereby stating it as the predictor variable of employee voice, while some have shown it as a consequence of employee voice in organisations. Further, the study explores the possibilities/opportunities for further research on employee voice and leader–member exchange within other disciplines, and to show how this could lead to a better understanding of the concepts of employee voice and leader–member exchange.

Keywords: Employee Voice Behaviour, Leader– Member Exchange, Decision Making, Human Resource Management

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