Supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior: The mediating role of psychological safety

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of psychological safety in the relationships among supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 268 employees, and 56 were their immediate supervisors, in three Egyptian companies belonging to footwear and headgear sector. Employees and their immediate supervisors provided data on separate questionnaires and different occasions; an identification number was used to match each employee’s questionnaire with the response of his/her immediate supervisor.

Findings

The results indicated that both supportive leadership and proactive personality had a positive and significant effect on voice behavior. In addition, the results showed that psychological safety fully mediated the relationships among supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by linking supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior. It clarifies how and why supportive leadership and proactive personality can stimulate voice behavior.

Citation

Elsaied, M.M. (2019), "Supportive leadership, proactive personality and employee voice behavior: The mediating role of psychological safety", American Journal of Business, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 2-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJB-01-2017-0004