It’s more about ‘we’ than ‘I’: The employee-supervisor fit in achievement striving, organizational identification and employee voice

Zheng, Xiaotong (Janey); Williams, Michele; Wang, Xiaoyu (Christina); Liang, Jian

Abstract

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.

Citation

Zheng, X. (., Williams, M., Wang, X. (., & Liang, J. (2024). It’s more about ‘we’ than ‘I’: The employee-supervisor fit in achievement striving, organizational identification and employee voice. Management and Organization Review, 20(3), 517-538. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2024.18

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Oct 7, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-06
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 9, 2024
• Journal: Management and Organization Review
• Print ISSN: 1740-8776
• Electronic ISSN: 1740-8784
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 517-538
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2024.18
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2256818