Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/330913 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Business Ethics [ISSN:] 1573-0697 [Volume:] 201 [Issue:] 3 [Publisher:] Springer Netherlands [Place:] Dordrecht [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 587-604
Publisher: 
Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht
Abstract: 
Research has shown that employees who remain silent about important issues at work are likely to experience negative personal consequences (e.g., burnout, reduced job satisfaction). Less clear is whether silence, over time, could also lead to negative interpersonal consequences. Drawing on social identity theory, we propose that involuntary forms of silence (acquiescent and quiescent silence) lead to decreased organizational identification, which, in turn, leads to increased instigated incivility over time. We tested our model at the within-person level using five waves of longitudinal data across four months from N = 1156 employees working in different industries. In line with predictions, results of random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) showed that higher acquiescent silence at the within-person level predicted subsequent decreases in organizational identification, which, in turn, predicted subsequent increases in instigated incivility. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant effect of quiescent silence on organizational identification. Supplemental analyses also revealed non-significant indirect effects for voluntary forms of silence (prosocial and opportunistic silence). Overall, these findings suggest that acquiescent silence may not only impair employees' own well-being, but can also result in interpersonal harm.
Subjects: 
Silence
Incivility
Organizational identification
Random-intercept cross-lagged panel model
Longitudinal study
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.