Abstract
This study proposed a counterintuitive view of the relationship between emotional resistance to change and voice behavior by addressing the moderating role of humble leadership and the symbolic effect of emotional resistance to change. We hypothesized that emotional resistance to change and voice behavior would have a U-shaped relationship that would emerge only when humble leadership was high. To offer support for our basic view that a high level of emotional resistance to change is a signal that employees will engage in voice behavior in the near future, we conducted a pilot study using 194 daily observations from 49 participants, and the results supported our argument. Using data from 237 supervisor-subordinate matched observations, we provided support for our hypothesis. Furthermore, our study showed that the relationship between emotional resistance to change and voice behavior tended to be an inverted U-shape when leaders expressed low levels of humility. We provided a possible explanation for these results and discussed the implications of our findings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Notably, emotional resistance to change is the same as an emotional reaction to imposed change in Oreg’s (2003) study. As an individual’s emotional reaction to imposed change contains unfavorable emotional reactions (e.g., stress and uneasiness) as well as favorable emotional reactions (e.g., relaxation and surprise), it is hard for us to understand that the term “emotional reaction to imposed change” reflects an individual’s unfavorable emotional reaction to making changes. Therefore, we employ the term “emotional resistance to change” instead of “emotional reaction to imposed change.”
All the original English scales and translated Chinese scales used in the pilot study and the subsequent main study are displayed in Part 1 of the online supplemental material.
The details about how we found the outliers are shown in Part 4 of the online supplementary material.
The details of this scatter plot are shown in Part 5 of the online supplementary material.
The results of the regression controlling for routine seeking, short-term thinking and cognitive rigidity are shown in Part 3 of the online supplementary material.
The details of how we found the outliers and the results of the regression without the outliers are shown in Part 4 of the online supplementary material.
The details of this scatter plot are shown in Part 5 of the online supplementary material.
References
Amabile, T. M., Schatzel, E. A., Moneta, G. B., & Kramer, S. J. (2004). Leader behaviors and the work environment for creativity: Perceived leader support. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.12.003.
Argote, L., & Ingram, P. (2000). Knowledge transfer: A basis for competitive advantage in firms. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1), 150–169. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.2000.2893.
Avolio, B. J., & Locke, E. E. (2002). Contrasting different philosophies of leader motivation: Altruism versus egoism. The Leadership Quarterly, 13(2), 169–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(02)00094-2.
Becker, G. S. (1965). A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal, 75, 493–517. https://doi.org/10.2307/2228949.
Becker, T. E. (2005). Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: A qualitative analysis with recommendations. Organizational Research Methods, 8(3), 274–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428105278021.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238.
Bergeron, D. M. (2007). The potential paradox of organizational citizenship behavior: Good citizens at what cost? Academy of Management Review, 32(4), 1078–1095. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2007.26585791.
Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In H. C. Triandis (Ed.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 349–444). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Cameron, K. S., & Caza, A. (2004). Contributions to the discipline of positive organizational scholarship. American Behavioral Scientist, 47(6), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764203260207.
Chen, A. S. Y., & Hou, Y. H. (2016). The effects of ethical leadership, voice behavior and climates for innovation on creativity: A moderated mediation examination. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.10.007.
Chiaburu, D. S., Marinova, S. V., & Van Dyne, L. (2008). Should I Do it or not? An Initial Model of Cognitive Processes Predicting Voice Behaviors. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2008, No. 1, pp. 1–6). Briarcliff Manor: Academy of Management.
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analyses for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602.
Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869–884. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2007.26279183.
Detert, J. R., & Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Implicit voice theories: Taken-for-granted rules of self-censorship at work. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 461–488. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2011.61967925.
Detert, J. R., & Treviño, L. K. (2010). Speaking up to higher-ups: How supervisors and skip-level leaders influence employee voice. Organization Science, 21(1), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1080.0405.
Dooley, R. S., & Fryxell, G. E. (1999). Attaining decision quality and commitment from dissent: The moderating effects of loyalty and competence in strategic decision-making teams. Academy of Management Journal, 42(4), 389–402. https://doi.org/10.2307/257010.
Dutton, J. E., & Ashford, S. J. (1993). Selling issues to top management. Academy of Management Review, 18(3), 397–428. https://doi.org/10.2307/258903.
Fast, N. J., Burris, E. R., & Bartel, C. A. (2014). Managing to stay in the dark: Managerial self-efficacy, ego defensiveness, and the aversion to employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 57(4), 1013–1034. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.0393.
Frazier, M. L., & Bowler, W. M. (2015). Voice climate, supervisor undermining, and work outcomes: A group-level examination. Journal of Management, 41(3), 841–863. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311434533.
Frijda, N. H. (1988). The laws of emotion. American Psychologist, 43, 349–358. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.5.349.
Frijda, N. H. (1992). The empirical status of the laws of emotion. Cognition & Emotion, 6, 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939208409699.
Gleichgerrcht, E., & Young, L. (2013). Low levels of empathic concern predict utilitarian moral judgment. PLoS One, 8(4), e60418. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060418.
Grant, A. M. (2013). Rocking the boat but keeping it steady: The role of emotion regulation in employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1703–1723. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0035.
Grupe, D. W., & Nitschke, J. B. (2013). Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety: An integrated neurobiological and psychological perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14(7), 488–501. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3524.
Haans, R. F., Pieters, C., & He, Z. L. (2016). Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U-and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research. Strategic Management Journal, 37(7), 1177–1195. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2399.
Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513–524.
Hofstede, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. The Academy of Management Executive, 7(1), 81–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/4165110.
Hofstede, G. (2013). Hierarchical power distance in forty countries. In Organizations alike and unlike (RLE: Organizations) (pp. 115–138). Routledge.
Hon, A. H., Bloom, M., & Crant, J. M. (2014). Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing creative performance. Journal of Management, 40(3), 919–941. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311415418.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3(4), 424–453. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.3.4.424.
Hu, J., Erdogan, B., Jiang, K., Bauer, T. N., & Liu, S. (2018). Leader humility and team creativity: The role of team information sharing, psychological safety, and power distance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(3), 313–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000277.
Judge, T. A., Erez, A., Bono, J. E., & Thoresen, C. J. (2003). The core self-evaluations scale: Development of a measure. Personnel Psychology, 56(2), 303–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2003.tb00152.x.
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724. https://doi.org/10.5465/256287.
Kearney, M. W. (2017). Cross lagged panel analysis. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, 1–6.
Keltner, D., & Gross, J. J. (1999). Functional accounts of emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 13(5), 467–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999399379140.
Kunze, F., Boehm, S., & Bruch, H. (2013). Age, resistance to change, and job performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28(7/8), 741–760. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-06-2013-0194.
Lebel, R. D. (2016). Overcoming the fear factor: How perceptions of supervisor openness lead employees to speak up when fearing external threat. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 135, 10–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.05.001.
Lei, X. H., Shan, Z. W., Su, T. Y., & Yang, Y. F. (2015). The impact of humble leadership on employee creativity. Journal of Management Science, 28(2), 115–125. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-0334.2015.02.011.
Li, Y., & Sun, J. M. (2015). Traditional Chinese leadership and employee voice behavior: A cross-level examination. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), 172–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.08.001.
Liang, J., Farh, C. I. C., & Farh, J. L. (2012). Psychological antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voice: A two-wave examination. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0176.
Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K. (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. Research in Organizational Behavior, 24, 181–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(02)24006-X.
Liu, W., Zhu, R., & Yang, Y. (2010). I warn you because I like you: Voice behavior, employee identifications, and transformational leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 21(1), 189–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.10.014.
Liu, W., Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. (2013). The relational antecedents of voice targeted at different leaders. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(5), 841–851. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032913.
Loewenstein, G. (1996). Out of control: Visceral influences on behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 65, 272–292. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1996.0028.
Mauss, I. B., Levenson, R. W., McCarter, L., Wilhelm, F. H., & Gross, J. J. (2005). The tie that binds? Coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology. Emotion, 5(2), 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.5.2.175.
Maynes, T. D., & Podsakoff, P. M. (2014). Speaking more broadly: An examination of the nature, antecedents, and consequences of an expanded set of employee voice behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(1), 87–112. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034284.
McCabe, K. O., Mack, L., & Fleeson, W. (2012). A guide for data cleaning in experience sampling studies. In M. R. Mehl & T. S. Connor (Eds.), Handbook of research methods for studying daily life. New York: Guilford Press.
Morrison, E. W. (2014). Employee voice and silence. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 173–197. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091328.
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706–725. https://doi.org/10.2307/259200.
Mumford, M. D., Baughman, W. A., Threlfall, K. V., Uhlman, C. E., & Costanza, D. P. (1993). Personality, adaptability, and performance: Performance on well-defined problem solving tasks. Human Performance, 6(3), 241–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327043hup0603_4.
Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2012). Employee voice behavior: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(2), 216–234. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.754.
Ng, T. W., & Feldman, D. C. (2015). Felt obligations to reciprocate to an employer, preferences for mobility across employers, and gender: Three-way interaction effects on subsequent voice behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 90, 36–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2015.07.005.
Nielsen, T. M., Bachrach, D. G., Sundstrom, E., & Halfhill, T. R. (2012). Utility of OCB: Organizational citizenship behavior and group performance in a resource allocation framework. Journal of Management, 38(2), 668–694. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309356326.
Ohly, S., Sonnentag, S., & Pluntke, F. (2006). Routinization, work characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(3), 257–279. https://doi.org/10.2307/4093928.
Oreg, S. (2003). Resistance to change: Developing an individual differences measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 680–693. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.680.
Oreg, S. (2006). Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(1), 73–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320500451247.
Organ, D. W., Podsakoff, P. M., & MacKenzie, S. B. (2006). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature, antecedents, and consequences. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Ou, A. Y., Waldman, D. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2018). Do humble CEOs matter? An examination of CEO humility and firm outcomes. Journal of Management, 44(3), 1147–1173. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206315604187.
Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787–818. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0441.
Owens, B. P., Johnson, M. D., & Mitchell, T. R. (2013). Expressed humility in organizations: Implications for performance, teams, and leadership. Organization Science, 24(5), 1517–1538. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0795.
Pardo del Val, M., & Martínez Fuentes, C. (2003). Resistance to change: A literature review and empirical study. Management Decision, 41(2), 148–155. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740310457597.
Piderit, S. K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 783–794. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2000.3707722.
Pierce, J. L., & Gardner, D. G. (2004). Self-esteem within the work and organizational context: A review of the organization-based self-esteem literature. Journal of Management, 30(5), 591–622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jm.2003.10.001.
Qin, X., DiRenzo, M. S., Xu, M., & Duan, Y. (2014). When do emotionally exhausted employees speak up? Exploring the potential curvilinear relationship between emotional exhaustion and voice. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(7), 1018–1041. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1948.
Rousselet, G. A., & Pernet, C. R. (2012). Improving standards in brain-behavior correlation analyses. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00119.
Rusbult, C. E., Farrell, D., Rogers, G., & Mainous, A. G. (1988). Impact of exchange variables on exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect: An integrative model of responses to declining job satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 31(3), 599–627. https://doi.org/10.2307/256461.
Sitkin, S. B., & Pablo, A. L. (1992). Reconceptualizing the determinants of risk behavior. Academy of Management Review, 17(1), 9–38. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1992.4279564.
Steiger, J. H., & Lind, J. C. (1980). Statistically based tests for the number of common factors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the psychometric society. Iowa City.
Takeuchi, R., Chen, Z., & Cheung, S. Y. (2012). Applying uncertainty management theory to employee voice behavior: An integrative investigation. Personnel Psychology, 65(2), 283–323. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2012.01247.x.
Tang, H. Y., Long, L. R., & Zhou, R. Y. (2015). Humble leadership behavior and subordinates' work engagement: A mediated moderation model. Journal of Management Science, 28(3), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-0334.2015.03.007.
Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. (2012). Ask and you shall hear (but not always): Examining the relationship between manager consultation and employee voice. Personnel Psychology, 65(2), 251–282. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2012.01248.x.
Thompson, J. A. (2005). Proactive personality and job performance: A social capital perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 1011–1017. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.1011.
Tucker, L. R., & Lewis, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291170.
Van Boven, L., Kane, J., McGraw, A. P., & Dale, J. (2010). Feeling close: Emotional intensity reduces perceived psychological distance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 872–885. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1531661.
Van Dyne, L., & LePine, J. A. (1998). Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: Evidence of construct and predictive validity. Academy of Management Journal, 41(1), 108–119. https://doi.org/10.2307/256902.
Venkataramani, V., Zhou, L., Wang, M., Liao, H., & Shi, J. (2016). Social networks and employee voice: The influence of team members’ and team leaders’ social network positions on employee voice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 132, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.12.001.
Waddell, D., & Sohal, A. S. (1998). Resistance: A constructive tool for change management. Management Decision, 36(8), 543–548. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749810232628.
Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179–201. https://doi.org/10.2307/259118.
Zhang, Y., LePine, J. A., Buckman, B. R., & Wei, F. (2014). It's not fair… or is it? The role of justice and leadership in explaining work stressor–job performance relationships. Academy of Management Journal, 57(3), 675–697. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.1110.
Zhang, Y., Huai, M. Y., & Xie, Y. H. (2015). Paternalistic leadership and employee voice in China: A dual process model. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.01.002.
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2001). When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: Encouraging the expression of voice. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 682–696. https://doi.org/10.2307/3069410.
Zhou, F., & Wu, Y. J. (2018). How humble leadership fosters employee innovation behavior: A two-way perspective on the leader-employee interaction. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(3), 375–387. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2017-0181.
Zohar, D. (1980). Safety climate in industrial organizations: Theoretical and applied implications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(1), 96–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.65.1.96.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge that this research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71472054, 71772052) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019B03614).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author certifies that: (I) the article has not been published in any language before; (II) it is not being considered concurrently for publication elsewhere, (III) the research reported in the manuscript was conducted in accordance with general ethical guidelines in psychology, (IV) we have reviewed and understood journal policies in the guide, and (V) We wish to confirm that that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 177 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, L., Zhang, L., Zhang, ZD. et al. Does emotional resistance to change definitely stifle voice behavior? Revealing the reversal effect of humble leadership. Curr Psychol 40, 5333–5348 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00462-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00462-z