No rules, no standards: Does due process voice appraisal system foster employee voice behavior?

This study advances voice research by offering a formal system view of the drivers of voice. The organizational behavior discipline focuses mainly on job conditions, individual traits, and organizational characteristics but seldom considers the role of formal factors. One overlooked yet important formal factor that may motivate voice behavior is the due process voice appraisal system. Drawing on the proactive motivation model, we propose that the implementation of the due process voice appraisal system will promote employee voice efficacy, organizational identification, and promotion focus, motivating employee voice behavior. We further consider the moderating role of authoritarian leadership in the proposed relationships through social information processing theory. Based on a sample of 265 participants in China, we conducted a field quasi-experiment and found that due process voice appraisal system was positively related to voice behavior via voice efficacy, organizational identification, and promotion focus. Further, the positive indirect effects of due process voice appraisal system on voice behavior via voice efficacy and organizational identification were attenuated by authoritarian leadership. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.