Reciprocal exchange orientation to organization, challenge stressor and construal level: Three-way interaction effects on voice behavior

Long Chen; Kerrie L Unsworth; Li Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1119596

Reciprocal exchange orientation to organization, challenge stressor and construal level: Three-way interaction effects on voice behavior

Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 14:14:1119596. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1119596. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Long Chen¹, Kerrie L Unsworth², Li Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
² Leeds University Business School, Leeds, United Kingdom.
³ School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.

Abstract

This study extends our understanding of voice behavior by considering a more complete set of reciprocity antecedents. We add employees-organization reciprocal exchange orientation (EO REO) into the antecedent of voice behavior and clarify the boundary condition by examining the joint moderating role of challenge stressors and construal level. The presence of challenge stressors represents a positive work environment, thus employees with a strong EO REO are likely to reciprocate with voice. However, such stressors also lead employees to focus on how to deal with the current challenges, which only aligns with employees who have a low construal level mindset and prefer to think about the details of the job at hand. Hence, we hypothesized that the positive relationship between EO REO and voice behavior in the face of challenge stressors was more likely to exist for employees whose construal level is low rather than high. We collected data from 237 employee-supervisor matched dyads in study 1 and 225 employee-supervisor matched dyads in study 2. These two studies offered support for the three-way interaction hypothesis. Our studies further voice by extending the antecedent and delineating the boundary condition of challenge stressors and construal level.

Keywords: challenge stressor; construal level; employees-organization reciprocal exchange orientation (EO REO); social exchange theory; voice behavior.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the General Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research of Jiangsu Colleges and Universities (2022SJYB0025) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B220201059).