South Korean managerial reactions to voicing discontent: The effects of employee attitude and employee communication styles
✍ Scribed by Tae-Yeol Kim; Benson Rosen; Deog-Ro Lee
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 143 KB
- Volume
- 30
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-3796
- DOI
- 10.1002/job.612
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Using a scenario‐based experiment, this study examined how employee attitude and employee communication styles affected managers' reactions to employees' objections to a company policy. In the experiment, employee attitude (cynical versus trusting) and employee communication styles (aggressive versus diplomatic) were manipulated, and managers' reactions to voicing discontent were assessed through a questionnaire. Based on a sample of 185 middle managers working in various organizations in South Korea, the results showed that managers were more likely to engage in social undermining and were less likely to provide social support when cynical (rather than trusting) employees objected to a company policy. Also, attributed motives (i.e., personal attack and health concern) fully mediated the relationship between employee attitude and social support and social undermining. In addition, managers more likely attributed the objection to moral concerns when trusting (rather than cynical) employees communicated in an aggressive manner. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.