By integrating the theory of purposeful work behavior with the person-environment (P-E) fit literature, we employ a bilateral approach to examine how employee-supervisor congruence in purposeful work striving (i.e., achievement striving) influences employee voice behavior via an internal motivation mechanism (i.e., organizational identification). Using polynomial regressions with response surface modeling, we analyze data from 827 employees and their 197 supervisors in two studies. The results show that achievement-driven employees are more likely to speak up when employee-supervisor achievement striving is congruent, regardless of whether it is high or low. Furthermore, employee-supervisor congruence in achievement striving enhances employees’ felt oneness with the organization and organizational identification, which in turn fuels their voice behavior. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

Drawing upon Parker, Bindl, and Strauss' [(2010). Making things happen: A model of proactive motivation. Journal of Management, 36(4), 827–856] model of proactive motivation, we provide an explanation for how employees who exhibit a high need for achievement can take a proactive initiative through the expression of voice. Importantly, the extent to which employee voice can bring about desired changes depends largely on how positively received the behavior is by those in higher positions, such as supervisors. In this regard, we further highlight the facilitating role of supervisor developmental feedback in shaping the effectiveness of voice behavior. Data from 392 independently matched subordinate–supervisor dyads from Japan provide empirical support for proposed relationships as follows: (a) there is a positive mediating relationship between the need for achievement, employee voice, and supervisors' evaluations of employee task performance and discretionary work effort, and (b) the mediating relationship becomes stronger when supervisor developmental feedback is high. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.

Drawing on social resources theory and social exchange theory, we propose that two forms of employee proactive behaviors, namely voice and taking charge, influence a leader's perception of their employees and hence affect the interpersonal relationships within the dyad. We introduce an expanded construct, termed as the leader perceived constructiveness, as a mediating mechanism that links the effects. We further propose two conditional factors that also govern the effects. Pairwise data collected from Taiwanese employees and supervisors in two separate studies provide support for the theorized hypotheses and confirm that the indirect relationship between employees' proactive behaviors and leader–member exchange (LMX) is augmented by their past performance. Our study advances the literature by adopting a more follower-centered framework. Moreover, by demonstrating how and when employee-initiated behaviors affect upwardly and improve the dyad outcome, we also contribute to the LMX literature and provide useful insights for managerial practice.

The Your Rights at Work Campaign in the lead-up to the 2007 Australian federal election successfully mobilised a groundswell of community opposition to the radically anti-union Work Choices employment relations legislation of 2005. There were hopes that its successor, the 2009 Fair Work Act, would usher in a new regime of good-faith workplace relations, support for collective bargaining and vulnerable workers’ access to enforceable labour rights. Major gaps are the failure to address workplace power imbalance, especially in small workplaces, and lack of support for employee participation and voice mechanisms. A case is made for the inclusion of such mechanisms in legislative National Employment Standards. The article concludes by arguing that it is a mistake for unions to expect too much from legislation, rather than investing in the pursuit of the sort of community alliances which, after all, have made a restoration of Work Choices untenable.

The increasing globalisation, the multiculturality of workplaces and the current challenges for organisations generated the need for researchers to support them to manage the workforce. Although the relevance of employee voice for these themes, a lack of shared understanding about this topic results in fragmented literature across and within research fields that limits theoretical advancement and deep comprehension of the phenomenon. Our first aim is to offer a literature review of employee voice by combining systematic and bibliometric methods; the second aim is to understand voice's main issues and implications by considering different research streams. The results present an integrated framework of the leading intellectual knowledge and reveal the main research focuses on voice in domestic contexts. The discussion underlines the cultural issue and context as critical elements for future research by proposing avenues for scholars and some implications for organisations to benefit from the contributions of their members.

Systems of corporate governance are not static. Rather, they are constantly evolving and are shaped and redesigned through formal legal rules, judicial decisions, business practices and changes in the prevailing ideological consensus. The 2007–2008 ‘credit crunch’ and the subsequent recession call for a reconsideration of the role of labour within the mechanisms of corporate governance and control. Accordingly, employee voice mechanisms, existing and potential, will be re-assessed in the academic realm and also as part of a wider renewed political discourse. Assessing the potential for implementation and prospects of employee voice is paramount within this process, and central to its success. The analysis made below maintains that regulations and their outcomes are the result of a blend of factors which interact with one another. It constructs a sociological and political explanation for the laws and actual practices concerned with the influence of employees on the firm's strategic decision-making process. Focusing on the legal regime which governs corporate insolvency restructuring in Germany, the US and the UK, and specifically the legal crossroads where capital and labour interact, this article reaffirms the view that capitalist systems create institutional structures which are difficult to alter, whereas developing mechanisms of employee voice are likely to adjust and ultimately reflect the existing institutional structure.