Presenter: Isaac Dixon
Authors: Isaac Dixon
Faculty Advisor: Alexander Romney
Institution: Utah State University
In today’s knowledge economy, employee voice is a key contributor to an organization’s overall effectiveness (Morrison, 2011). Defined as “the discretionary verbal communication of ideas, suggestions, or opinions where the intent is to improve organizational or unit functioning” (Morrison, Wheeler-Smith, & Kamdar, 2011, p. 183), employee voice has interested scholars and practitioners alike for several decades (Hirschman, 1970; Rusbult, Farrell, Rogers, & Moinous, 1988; Van Dyne & LePine, 1998; Detert & Burris, 2007; Morrison, 2014).Despite the benefits that result from employee voice, employees are often reluctant to engage in it (Detert & Edmondson, 2011). There is some consensus among voice scholars that employees’ reluctance to speak up is usually a result of fear (Ashford, Rothbard, Piderit, & Dutton, 1998; Morrison & Milliken, 2000; Milliken, Morrison, & Hewlin, 2003; Detert & Burris, 2007; Detert & Trevino, 2010; Detert & Edmondson, 2011; Morrison, 2014). A growing body of research examines ways in which the fear associated with employee voice can be overcome (Nehmbard & Edmondson, 2006; Morrison, 2014), finding that a climate of psychological safety, characterized by a shared perception that an environment is safe, can motivate employees to speak up (Liang, Farh, & Farh, 2012). Interestingly, little research has been done to understand the place of voice that is undeveloped, known as an employee’s intuition or “gut feeling”. Furthermore, some research suggests that our limbic system-- the area of the brain that deals with these types of emotional reactions-- is where most of our best decisions come from. In this research, we integrate research on employee voice and intuition to explore why and when what we label as intuitive voice is likely to be endorsed and how it can lead to performance improvement. Drawing upon a sample of full-time employees in the United States we seek to test a theoretical model of when speaking up with undeveloped ideas is effective.