Title
Employee Silence Motives: Investigation of Dimensionality and Development of Measures
Department/School
Management
Date of this version
2012
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1829
Abstract
In four studies, I examine the motives for employee silence. In Study 1, open-ended survey responses are examined to determine the nature and scope of silence motives. Study 2 develops measures of these motives and explores their factor structure. Study 3 refines the measures and provides confirmatory evidence of factor structure. Study 4 examines relationships between the new measures and related factors (employee voice, psychological safety, neuroticism, extraversion). Results indicate six dimensions of silence motives (ineffectual, relational, defensive, diffident, disengaged, and deviant) emerge from the data, can be reliably measured, and provide incremental value for understanding and assessing employee silence.
Volume
34
Issue
5
Published in
Journal of Organizational Behavior
Citation/Other Information
Brinsfield, C. T. (2013). Employee silence motives: Investigation of dimensionality and development of measures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(5), 671-697. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1829