Leader Voice Endorsement Transparency and Employee Voice Behaviour: The Moderating Role of Employee Workplace Status in the Sri Lankan Information Technology Sector

Abstract

Employees’ voice behaviour is increasingly recognized as an important source of information sharing, problem identification, innovation, and organizational learning. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, this study examines the relationship between leader voice endorsement transparency and employee voice behaviour in the Sri Lankan Information Technology (IT) sector and tests whether employee workplace status moderates this relationship. Using a deductive quantitative design, data were collected from 235 employees through convenience sampling and analyzed using SPSS. Pearson correlation, linear regression, and moderation analysis were conducted. The results show a strong positive association between leader voice endorsement transparency and employee voice behaviour (r = .61, p < .01), and regression analysis indicates that leader voice endorsement transparency is a significant positive predictor of employee voice behaviour (B = .55, β = .55, p < .001). Employee workplace status also shows a significant positive main effect in the moderation model (B = .21, β = .18, p < .001). However, the interaction between leader voice endorsement transparency and workplace status is not statistically significant (B = -.06, β = -.07, p = .100). Therefore, H1 is supported, whereas H2 is not supported. The interaction coefficient is negative and does not provide evidence that the relationship is stronger for low-status employees or weaker for high-status employees. The findings therefore support the value of transparent leader communication as a predictor of employee voice, while not establishing workplace status as a boundary condition in this sample. The study contributes to the voice literature by examining leader voice endorsement transparency in a Sri Lankan IT context and by reporting a theoretically plausible but unsupported moderation hypothesis without overstating the statistical evidence. Practically, the findings suggest that organizations should make the criteria and reasoning used to evaluate employee suggestions clearer and provide consistent feedback across employees.