Cultivating Diverse Perspectives or Inhibiting Them? The Unexamined Consequences of Leader Voice Solicitation for Organizations and Their Members

Abstract

In this dissertation, I examine the practice of leader voice solicitation—leaders’ individually-directed requests to employees for improvement-oriented ideas—and consider its value as a means for transforming employees’ unique perspectives into organizational value. Departing from the prior literature’s focus on the extent to which leader voice solicitation promotes greater voice quantity, I assess the resulting organizational value of this behavior through the outcome of voice quality. I hypothesize that leader voice solicitation can positively affect voice quality by increasing felt social worth, yet also argue that women experience this positive effect to a lesser extent due to the gender-based challenges to voice that they can face. I further describe the specific mechanisms behind these gendered inequities and explore potential mitigating factors to present a theoretical model of these hypothesized effects. Using a set of newly developed and validated scales, I test my hypotheses in two empirical studies. Study 1 consisted of a three-wave, multi-source field survey in a male-dominated organizational setting, and Study 2 consisted of in-person, interactive laboratory experiment featuring manipulations of leader voice solicitation through the work of a professional actor. Results from the two studies indicate that leader voice solicitation is indeed associated with higher voice quality, suggesting that this leader behavior can offer meaningful organizational value, via the performance-enhancing potential provided by voice. Additional analyses provide further insight into the differences in these effects for men and women under varied conditions and uncover numerous opportunities for future research. Taken together, this dissertation offers valuable contributions to the leader voice solicitation literature, as well as to the voice, diversity, gender, and inclusion literatures.