Organizational Silence in State-Owned Enterprises: Intermediary Role of the Perceptions of Organizational Politics

Ting Liang, Ying Wang
2016 American Journal of Industrial and Business Management  
This paper aims to explore how the employees' organizational silence and perception of organizational politics play an intermediary role in the process of generating the organizational silence in the state-owned enterprises with specific organizational climate and environment. Using 563 samples from state-owned enterprises, a linear structure equation model (SEM) is developed to examine the relationship. The research results show that the leader-member exchange has significant negative
more » ... on with organizational silence and that the leader-member exchange has significant negative correlation with perception of organizational politics. In addition, the perception of organizational politics partially plays an intermediary role in the formation mechanism of organizational silence. Finally, the countermeasures and proposals are put forward to reduce the organizational silence of employees in the state-owned enterprises. 641 collapse of Enron as an energy giant is that its employees always keep silent in face of the problems existing in the corporation, which ultimately threatens the organization's basic survival. In reality, the organizational silence is very common. According to the survey of Frances on full-time employees in consulting, finance, media, pharmacy and advertising industries in America, 85% of respondents did not represent their ideas to superiors at least once even if they are very important. In China, due to the socialized influence of traditional "Confucian" culture and the doctrine of the mean on employees, the organizational silence is more common [4] . At present, the operating state-owned enterprises in China have the total asset of nearly 8 trillion yuan. The number of state-owned enterprises (including state holding enterprises) is more than 150,000; the state-owned economy almost exists in all industries. In 2013, the total asset of state-owned enterprises all over the country was 104.1 trillion yuan, with an increase of 16.3%, accounting for about 23% of all the assets. The state-owned enterprises undertake the responsibilities of national economic management tasks, so in management mode, they are similar to administrative organizations [5] . The state-owned enterprises have special management style and culture, which provide special background for us to study the organizational silence [6]. Our focus is on organizational silence behavior of employees in state-owned enterprises with special management style and organizational climate and its formation process. This study has great significant in reducing organizational silence of employees in the state-owned enterprises and improving the performance and competitiveness of enterprises. This paper focuses on the formation process of organizational silence of employees in the state owned enterprises. In this paper, it is assumed that the leading factor has a direct impact on organizational silence, while the perception of organizational politics plays an intermediary role in the formation of individual organizational silence. Based on the samples of 563 employees in the state owned enterprises, the structural equation model is used to verify and analyze the hypothesis in this paper. Finally, the countermeasures and proposals are put forward to reduce the organizational silence of employees in the state-owned enterprises.
doi:10.4236/ajibm.2016.65059 fatcat:hcfid5jhovelvpmkrxvbe7vtyi