Why do some employees speak up about problems they perceive at their workplace, while others remain silent? This dissertation examines the antecedents of employee voice, adopting a situational approach that emphasizes the interdependencies among employees and highlights the importance of the organizational context. Using data from employee surveys and interviews in two large public sector organizations in the Netherlands, this dissertation adds new perspectives by drawing attention to sharedness as a key characteristic of problems, by considering the possibility that employees coordinate their actions, and by examining characteristics of both the speakers and the recipients of voice. Thesis can be ordered at the Library of the University of Groningen.
Supervisors: Rafael Wittek, Frans Stokman
Thesis defended: April 1, 2010
Journal publications from this project:
- Pauksztat, B. & R. Wittek (2011). Who Speaks Up to Whom? A Relational Approach to Employee Voice. Social Networks 33 (4), 303–316.
- Pauksztat, B., M. van Duijn, and R. Wittek (2011). A “Special Attachment”? Voice and the Relational Aspects of Loyalty. International Sociology 26 (4), 524-546.
- Pauksztat, B. and R. Wittek (2010). Representative voice in different organizational contexts: a study of 40 departments of a Dutch child-care organization. International Journal of Human Resource Management 22 (10-12), 2222-2244.
Birgit Pauksztat is currently working as an assistant professor at the Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki