Social Relations and Voice Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

Over the years much research has been devoted to understanding how employee’s voice behavior may be promoted. Existing studies, however, have not yet fully examined the voice behavior process, because they have not taken the mediating role of cognitive and mental processes into adequate consideration. In order to fill this gap, this study develops and tests a theoretical model which focuses on psychological safety as a mediating mechanism between social relations and voice. Data were collected from 652 employees from the largest express transportation company in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Empirical results showed that psychological safety did mediate the relationship between voice behavior and workers’ perceived relationships with supervisors and co-workers. Practical management and research implications are discussed and future research directions are suggested. Key-words: perceived relationship with supervisor, perceived relationship with co-workers, psychological safety, voice behavior