Title: Employee silence, managerial attributions of employee silence, and the moderating role of leader-member exchange: integrating stages of institutionalised socialisation

Authors: Shih Yung Chou; William R. Fannin; Katelin Barron

Addresses: Dillard College of Business Administration, Midwestern State University, 3410 Taft Blvd., Wichita Falls, TX 76308, USA ' College of Business, The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, 4901 E. University, Odessa, TX 79762, USA ' College of Business, The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, 4901 E. University, Odessa, TX 79762, USA

Abstract: In this article, we develop a theoretical model describing employee silence in the stages institutionalised socialisation and the moderating role of leader-member exchange (LMX). By integrating relevant literature, we propose that an employee exhibits high, low, and high levels of silence behaviour during the entry, socialisation, and change and acquisition stage of institutionalised socialisation, respectively. Moreover, we contend that managers make external attributions to employees' silence behaviour exhibited in the entry stage of institutionalised socialisation, make internal attributions to employees' silence behaviour exhibited in the socialisation stage of institutionalised socialisation, and make external attributions to employees' silence behaviour exhibited in the change and acquisition stage of institutionalised socialisation. Furthermore, we suggest that managers' attributions of employees' silence behaviour exhibited in each of these stages of institutionalised socialisation are moderated by the quality of LMX. We conclude this article by highlighting theoretical contributions and managerial implications.

Keywords: employee silence; institutionalised socialisation; stages of socialisation; managerial attribution; leader-member exchange.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2018.095180

International Journal of Management Practice, 2018 Vol.11 No.4, pp.353 - 371

Received: 17 Jul 2017
Accepted: 18 Apr 2018
Published online: 01 Oct 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article