The Impacts of Digital Leadership on Employee Voice Behaviors: The Mediating Roles of Employee Empowerment and Work Engagement

Abstract

This study examines the impact of digital leadership on employee voice behaviors, which are critical for organizations’ success in digital transformation. Using social exchange theory as the model foundation, we conducted a two-wave survey to explore the content and attributes of voice behaviors. Our findings show that digital leadership plays a crucial role in promoting employee voice behaviors, indirectly affecting prohibitive and promotive voice behaviors through employee empowerment. We found that digital leadership increases prohibitive voice behavior through increasing work engagement rather than promotive voice behavior. Additionally, our study reveals that employee empowerment and work engagement do not mediate the chain of effects between digital leadership and promotive voice behavior. This research contributes to the literature on digital leadership, employee voice behaviors, and social exchange theory, providing new insights into the role of digital leadership in promoting employee voice behaviors.