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This qualitative content analysis study explores the experiences of public sector employees' decisions to share and not share their ideas with leadership, and how those decisions relate to their engagement states. We found that the relationship with supervisors can impact both employee voice and silence. Further, employee voice is impacted by the power of ideas and how the idea is crafter. And, employee silence was impacted by previous voice experiences and job insecurity. Last, we position that the employee voice/silence decisions are outcomes of the employee engagement state, compared to being a driver.
Keywords: Employee Engagement, Employee Voice, Employee Silence, Public Sector
INTRODUCTION
Public sector employees are the front lines of the work for their respective agencies. They have ideas, thoughts, and concerns that could benefit their agencies in meeting common good missions. Daily, these employees choose to either share or not share their ideas, which can have both positive and negative impacts to their agencies and the American citizens. The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to explore experiences of exercising voice and silence and understand their relationship of the engagement state of public sector employees. Findings indicated that, in addition to supervisor relationship, factors such as confidence, insecurity, message impact, strategic planning, and previous experiences impacted voice and silence decisions. Additionally, there are inconsistencies regarding the positioning of employee voice and silence with employee engagement. Being able to understand these experiences are beneficial to develop communication structures to foster employee voice. The implications for leadership development practices and employee engagement research are discussed.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Employee Engagement
Within the public-sector there is an evolving discussion regarding the importance of employee engagement as a medium for driving the various outcomes, such as performance and well-being (Macleod & Clarke, 2009). The purpose of most public-sector organizations is not to generate revenue, but to achieve goals that collectively provide for the common good. This can mean defending the nation, enforcing laws, educating our children, putting people back to work, caring for an aging population, providing service to veterans, or solving problems like poverty and homelessness (Lavigna, 2013). Additionally, Robinson (2017) suggested public sector leaders face the challenge of identifying practices to ensure that employees sustain their engagement through the changes and challenges of working...