Upward Voice: Participative Decision Making, Trust in Leadership and Safety Climate Matter

Inmaculada Silla, Francisco J. Gracia and José M. Peiró
Additional contact information
Inmaculada Silla: Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Francisco J. Gracia: Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
José M. Peiró: Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: A supportive upward voice environment is critical in nuclear power plants in order to provide energy in a sustainable manner. In high–reliability organizations, front–line employees’ suggestions and concerns enable the early identification of potential problems that might have catastrophic consequences (e.g., a nuclear accident). Despite this, previous research has mostly focused on person–centered antecedents of upward voice and, to a lesser extent, the influence of the supervisor–subordinate relationship, while neglecting the importance of the organizational context. This study responds to the aforementioned research lacuna. It examined the relationship between participative decision making and upward voice, and the mediating role of trust in leadership in this relationship. Moreover, it further extends previous research by examining the role of safety climate, which is expected to moderate both the direct and the indirect effect of participative decision making on upward voice. The sample was composed of 495 workers from two nuclear power plants from the same organization. Findings supported the hypothesized moderated mediation model: the indirect effect of participative decision making (PDM) on upward voice via trust in leadership was contingent upon the level of the safety climate. The indirect effect became weaker as the safety climate increased. These findings support the relevance of the organizational context.

Keywords: participative decision making; trust in leadership; safety climate; nuclear power plant; upward voice; high–reliability organizations; moderated mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3672/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3672/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3672-:d:353184

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().