Know more, say more? : the effects of supervisors' knowledge-focused leadership and subordinates' goal orientation on subordinates' voice

Abstract

This study seeks to advance scholarly understanding of the drivers of voice by adopting a knowledge perspective. Guided by the knowledge acquisition-utilization model, the author contends that supervisors’ knowledge-focused leadership, which has been largely neglected in management research, determines the extent to which subordinates acquire job and contextual knowledge. As subordinates accumulate greater job and contextual knowledge, they engage in more voice to utilize their knowledge. Crucially, this knowledge acquisition-utilization process may vary according to subordinates’ goal orientation. The investigation involved five studies. Study 1 involved inductive and deductive item generation and interviews, culminating in a 20-item scale capturing the four dimensions of KL, including coaching, feedback-giving, providing learning opportunities, and proactive example-setting. Studies 2 to 4 used online convenience samples and established the scale’s psychometric properties through item reduction, measurement model validation, and discriminant and predictive validity tests. Study 5 adopted a within-person 8-week design with a sample of 215 supervisor-subordinate dyads from diverse job industries. The findings supported the premise that KL facilitates subordinates’ acquisition of job and contextual knowledge, both of which positively relate to their promotive voice (but not prohibitive voice). The indirect effect of KL on voice via job and contextual knowledge is stronger for subordinates with low (vs. high) performance goal orientation. Overall, this study moves the voice literature forward by enacting a knowledge perspective that has been unexplored thus far, positing that supervisors’ KL and subordinates’ goal orientation are pivotal factors driving one’s voice, with the acquisition of job and contextual knowledge being the core mediating mechanisms.