Mediated Model of Defensive Silence: An Empirical Case of the Banking Sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
1 Ph.D Scholar, Preston University
2 Assitant Professor, Institute of Management Sciences
Abstract
Organizations and industries characterized by highly competitive environments need organizational factors that foster voice behavior amongst their employees. Two critical factors amongst these are leader openness to voice and availability of open communication opportunity. A lack of leader openness to voice and a lack of open communication opportunity may lead to low levels of affective commitment. This influences employees’ cognitive decision to engage in defensive silence, which also results in low levels of affective commitment. However, less consideration has been given to empirically explore these mechanisms while providing sound theoretical underpinnings, and using robust quantitative techniques. This paper presents a mediated model of defensive silence using the competitive banking sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan as the context. The research aimed to understand how these organizational factors, being the predictors of defensive silence, influence the conscious decision process of employees and as a consequence lead to low levels of affective commitment. The data for the paper were gathered from a sample of 1236 bankers from 258 branches of 8 commercial banks within 12 districts of the province. Reliability of the data instrument was measured through Cronbach alpha using SPSS 24. However, convergent and discriminant validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 18. Moreover, structural equation modeling was used for mediation analysis along with structural path diagram and model fit indices. The results show that the hypothesized mediated models regarding the mediating role of defensive silence between organizational factors and affective commitment were supported, thus extending theory to new empirical context. The paper concludes with a discussion on implications of these findings and recommendations for future work .
Keywords: Defensive Silence; Lack of Leader Openness to Voice; Lack of Open Communication Opportunity; Affective Commitment.
Received Revised
Accepted
Available Online