Employee Silence Behaviour, Predictive Roles Of Supportive Leadership, Affective Commitment And Proactive Personality Among Telecommunication Employees In Anambra State

Abstract

This study investigated employee silence behaviors: predictive roles of supportive leadership, affective commitment and proactive personality among telecommunication employees in Anambra State. Nowadays, the issues of keeping mute while organizations are retarding or on the verge of closure is on the increase. The analysis found that several factors emanating from individuals, organizations and culture such as fear, intimidation, ethnocentrism etc. The analysis also found that employee silence is extremely detrimental to organizations often causing an “escalating level of dissatisfaction” among employees, “which manifests itself in absenteeism, turnover and perhaps other undesired behaviors”. Communication is the key to an organization’s success. If employee silence does occur, communication suffers and as a result harms the overall functioning of
the organization. Three hundred and fifty-seven employees were conveniently drawn from five telecommunication firms in Anambra metropolis. They considered 145 males and 212 females in the study, with ages ranging from 25-56 years with a mean age of 40.5 years. The result of the study showed that Supportive leadership did not significantly predict employee silence behavior (β = .23, ΔR2 = .13, p< .451), Proactive personality did not significantly predict employee silence behavior (β = .16, ΔR2 = .02, p< .214) and affective commitment did not significantly predict employee silence behavior (β = .31, ΔR2 = .02, p< .810). In conclusion, it could be inferred that employees are more willing to talk or contribute important information to the growth of the firm, when managers are supportive, warm and friendly in their disposition, when management show affection and emotional connection with the employees and when the management are proactive in their behavior and actions towards employees.