The Relationship between Psychological Safety and Employee Voice: The Mediation Role of Affective Commitment and Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

In this quantitative research, we enhance understanding of psychological safety on employee voice behavior by examining mediating role of affective commitment and intrinsic motivation. We examined these relationships among 151 research assistants working full-time for universities. The results suggest that psychological safety is significantly associated with affective commitment whereas it does not significantly influence intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, employee voice behavior is affected by intrinsic motivation but not by affective commitment. Lastly, while affective commitment plays an important role as mediator in the relationship between psychological safety and employee voice although intrinsic motivation does not have a mediating effect. We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.