Title: When silence is golden? Virtuous silence in the organisation: its conceptualisation, key characteristics, and values

Authors: Shih Yung Chou; Charles Ramser; Katelin Barron

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

Abstract: Perhaps one of the most pervasive behaviours in organisations is individual silence. Although individual silence may be triggered by various motives, prior research has predominantly discussed individual silence from the dark side. Thus, individual silence has been viewed as a dysfunctional and antisocial workplace behaviour. In this article, we take a bright perspective by incorporating virtues into the discussion of individual silence. Specifically, we propose the concept of virtuous silence to capture individuals' inclination to remain silent in order to feel, think, and act in ways that contribute to the common good within the organisation. Additionally, virtuous silence contains the following key characteristics: 1) it is driven by an individual's natural propensity for righteousness and collective prosperity; 2) it is a dyadic behaviour; 3) it is a communicative behaviour that focuses on engaging oneself and others in deeper thinking and reasoning. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Keywords: virtuous silence; individual silence; virtues; organisational prosperity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2023.129421

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2023 Vol.17 No.2, pp.182 - 195

Received: 07 Oct 2020
Accepted: 09 Sep 2021
Published online: 09 Mar 2023 *

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