Voice and Silence Climates in the Swedish Healthcare and Educational Sectors

Börnfelt P-O ()
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Börnfelt P-O: Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE)

Chapter Chapter 10 in Whistleblowing Policy and Practice, Volume I, 2025, pp 185-205 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The chapter is based on an interview study about raising concerns in the healthcare and educational sectors in Sweden. Four themes are addressed in the chapter: 1. Debates on how to understand the concepts voice and silence. Are they automatic behavior based on taken-for-granted assumptions or are they intentional actions based on experiences? 2. A typology of voice and silence climates based on participation in decision-making, degree of openness, trust, and support between people at the workplace. Five groups of climates were found: A high voice climate, a moderate voice climate, a restrained voice climate, a resignation silence climate, and a silence and fear climate. 3. The effects of management practice on voice and silence workplace climates. A democratic leadership orientation lays the foundation for a voice climate based on trust and open dialogue. Workers are involved in decision-making processes at the workplace. Silence and fear climates are created by an autocratic and retaliative leadership orientation. A hierarchical view on communication are silencers both regarding concerns raised internally and externally. 4. A discussion about how the study relates to the organization models: the bureaucratic/hierarchical model, new public management (NPM), the professional organization and trust-based governance.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-93166-6_10

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-93166-6_10

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