Exploring Leadership’s Role in Promotive and Prohibitive Voice Among Malaysian Service Employees
Purpose—This study investigates the influence of leadership on employee promotive and prohibitive voice behaviors in the Malaysian service industry, with particular attention to paternalistic leadership and psychological safety within this high-power distance cultural context. Design/Methodology/ Approach: Employing abductive analysis methodology, the research analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with 30 participants strategically selected from diverse service sectors in Malaysia, including hospitality, retail banking, telecommunications, and healthcare. This approach enabled the development of an emerging framework explaining the unique relationship between leadership styles and voice behaviors within Malaysia’s cultural environment. Findings: Leadership predominantly affects voice behavior via psychological safety, with participative leadership significantly enhancing promotive voice. Both participative and authoritative leadership can foster prohibitive voice under specific conditions. Paternalistic leadership, prevalent in Malaysian organizations, creates ambivalent psychological safety that differentially affects voice types—generally constraining promotive voice while conditionally enabling prohibitive voice aligned with organizational protection. Cultural values—particularly power distance, facesaving concerns, and family-based values—significantly moderate these relationships. Research Implications: This research advances voice behavior theory by distinguishing between leadership antecedents for promotive versus prohibitive voice and identifying culturally specific psychological pathways through which leadership influences voice in non-Western contexts. Practical Implications: The findings suggest that Malaysian service organizations should develop leadership approaches that preserve culturally valued relationship orientation while creating psychological safety for both voice types, crucial for enhancing service innovation and quality.
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