Research On The Influence Of The Supervisor-subordinate Relational Schema Congruence On Employee Voice Behavior

In Chinese organizations,the phenomenon of intentional employee voice without practicing it occurs frequently,primarily because employees are concerned about the supervisor-subordinate relationship.Although substantial achievements have been made on the antecedents of employee voice behavior,the key influencing factor of individuals’ implicit cognition of the relationship between supervisors and subordinates has been ignored.Different from leader-member exchange,supervisorsubordinate relationship,person-supervisor fit,etc.,which focus on the actual characteristics of the relationship,the supervisor-subordinate relational schema represents the individual’s cognition of the pattern or characteristics of the supervisorsubordinate relationship.It explains the standard of conduct between supervisors and subordinates in the process of relationship interaction,and may also be a key factor in explaining employees voice behavior.In addition,previous studies have mostly explored the impact of employee voice behavior from the perspective of leaders.Considering the lack of employee lens,this study will research the influence mechanism of the supervisor-subordinate relational schema congruence on employee voice behavior.To construct the theoretical model of this study,firstly,this paper systematically reviewed relevant literature and further clarified the concept,structure,and measurement of the core variables.Specifically,the core variables of this study include the supervisor-subordinate relational schema,employee voice behavior,the emotional tone within the relationship,cognitive flexibility and task interdependence.Then,according to the data obtained from the open-ended survey(76)and semistructured interview(52),this study use the inductive approach to verify the fourdimensional structure of the supervisor-subordinate relational schema from practical view,and use qualitative analysis to explore the relationship between the supervisorsubordinate relational schema congruence and employee voice behavior,which comes to be the basis for the construction of theoretical model and the selection of the scale.Based on the results of qualitative analysis,the theoretical model and related hypotheses of this paper are constructed in combination with relevant theories,which are relational schema theory,cognitive-affective system theory,and personenvironment fit theory.Finally,valid matching data of 338 subordinates from 83 teams were used to verify the hypothesis.Cross-level polynomial regression analysis,block variable analysis,and pick a point were used to test the hypothesis.The empirical test of this study is carried out in four sub-studies,which respectively explore the influence mechanism of different dimensions of the supervisor-subordinate relational schema on employee voice behavior.Including the mediating effect of positive relationship emotional tone under the emotional path,the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility under the cognitive path,and the moderating effect of task interdependence.The findings are as follow:(1)communal-affection relational schema congruence and care-repay relational schema congruence can positively predict employee voice behavior.The authority-obedience relational schema congruence can negatively predict employee voice behavior and mainly negatively predict prohibitive voice.However,instrumental-exchange relational schema congruence does not affect employee voice behavior.(2)Positive relationship emotion tone plays a mediating role in the relationship between communal-affection relational schema congruence,care-repay relational schema congruence,authorityobedience relational schema and employee voice behavior,and mainly mediates the effect on the promotive voice.However,it did not mediate in the influence of instrumental-exchange relational schema congruence on employee voice behavior.(3)Cognitive flexibility played a mediating role in the relationship between the supervisor-subordinate relational schema and employee voice behavior,including communal-affection relational schema congruence,instrumental-exchange relational schema congruence,care-repay relational schema congruence,and authorityobedience relational schema congruence on employee voice behavior.(4)Task interdependence enhanced the influence of instrumental-exchange relational schema congruence and authority-obedience relational schema congruence on positive relationship emotional tone.(5)Task interdependence enhanced the effect of instrumental-exchange relational schema congruence,authority-obedience relational schema congruence,and authority-obedience relational schema congruence on cognitive flexibility.The theoretical contributions of this study include: First,the study focused on the supervisor-subordinate relational schema,which not only broadens the interpersonal perspective of employee voice behavior but also enriched the application situation of the relational schema theory,contributing new knowledge to the area of the supervisor-subordinate relational schema research.Secondly,from the interpersonal perspective,based on the cognitive-affective system theory,the study uncovered the "black box" between the supervisor-subordinate relational schema congruence and employee voice behavior.Furthermore,the study differentiates the causes between the promotive voice and the prohibitive voice to a certain extent and enriches the mechanism of employee voice behavior.Thirdly,this study explores the influence of the relational schema congruence of different dimensions on employee voice behavior.It breaks through the previous single perspective(leader or follower perspective).Moreover,it expands the hypothesis of "consistency optimality" in person-supervisor fit,a beneficial supplement to the person-environment fit theory.Fourthly,the boundary conditions of supervisor-subordinate relational schema congruence impacting employee voice behavior are expanded from the situational factors of job characteristics.Based on the above analysis,this study discusses the suggestions for business practice management: first,to reshape the individual’s implicit cognition of the relationship between supervisors and subordinates to avoid falling into the trap of thinking mode.Second,create a good corporate culture of supervisor-subordinate relationships to avoid the "disappearance voice" of employees.Third,pay attention to the emotional tone management of the supervisor-subordinate relationship,stimulate employee to speak up when they want to.Fourth,carry out cognitive flexibility training for employees to enhance their ability to adapt to multiple situations.