Drivers of Social Engagement: Employee Voice–Advice Sharing Relationship
| Author | J. Travis Bland,Adam M. Williams |
| DOI | 10.1177/0734371X19850873 |
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2019
Article
Review of Public Personnel Administration
2020, Vol. 40(4) 669 –690
Drivers of Social
© The Author(s) 2019
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Engagement: Employee
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X19850873
DOI: 10.1177/0734371X19850873
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Voice–Advice Sharing
Relationship
Adam M. Williams1 and J. Travis Bland1
Abstract
Sparked by recent scholarly interest in identifying the drivers or antecedents of
employee engagement, this article examines the relationship between an employee’s
perception of voice and his or her propensity to socially engage in the form of
sharing advice. In this article, we conceptualize an employee’s perception of
voice as multi-directional in nature. This is because, whether directed upward,
downward, or laterally, employees will develop multiple perceptions of voice as
they distinguish between their social exchanges across and within the various levels
of the organization. Surveying the city workforce of Marietta, Georgia, we found a
positive perception of voice is a key driver or antecedent to advice sharing across
vertical boundaries with superiors and subordinates and across lateral boundaries
with peers. Yet contrary to what the literature would suggest about the influence
of superiors on subordinates, we found that low perceptions of upward voice (i.e.,
perceptions shaped by those at higher levels of the organization) did not influence
an employee’s decision to share advice with his or her own subordinates or peers.
This research shifts some much-needed attention toward advice sharing as a social
manifestation of employee engagement and establishes the importance of assessing
and managing an employee’s multiple perceptions of voice.
Keywords
employee engagement, social engagement, advice sharing, advice network, employee
voice
1University of Illinois Springfield, USA
Corresponding Author:
J. Travis Bland, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Illinois
Springfield, MS PAC 420, One University Plaza, Springfield, IL 62703, USA.
Email: jblan7@uis.edu
670
Review of Public Personnel Administration 40(4)
Introduction
Numerous studies show many organizational benefits can flow from a highly engaged
workforce (Akingbola & van den Berg, 2017; Kahn, 1990; Rees, Alfes, & Gatenby,
2013; Saks, 2006). For this reason, initiatives to assess and increase the levels of
employee engagement, now viewed by many as a key performance indicator, are
widespread in the public sector. For example, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) has utilized a portion of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to develop an
employee engagement index. The OPM now utilizes this index to examine engage-
ment trends across the federal workforce and offers a regular report outlining detailed
recommendations on how agencies can create a work environment that supports
employee engagement (United States Office of Personnel Management, 2016).
Similarly, LocalGov, a large local authority in the United Kingdom, joined the
Kingston University Employee Engagement Consortium in 2006 as an effort to assess
and identify areas to strengthen levels of engagement across their workforce (Alfes,
Truss, Soane, Rees, & Gatenby, 2010). Employee engagement, as defined by Alfes
et al. (2010), is “being positively present during the performance of work by willingly
contributing intellectual effort and experiencing both positive emotions and meaning-
ful connection to others” (p. 5). Accordingly, there are three manifestations of
employee engagement: intellectual engagement or the extent to which an employee is
absorbed by his or her work and thinks about ways to improve what they do, affective
engagement or the extent to which an employee feels a positive emotional connection
with his or her work experience, and social engagement or the extent to which an
employee voluntarily interacts with employees about work-related improvements and
change (Akingbola & van den Berg, 2017; Alfes et al., 2010; Rees et al., 2013). As
more scholars and practitioners focus on employee engagement and its benefits for
organizational performance, there has been a growing interest in identifying the driv-
ers of employee engagement and how it operates in practice.
For example, in a mixture of public and private organizations encompassing a sam-
ple of over 5,000 employees, Alfes et al. (2010) found that the two most important
conditions driving employee engagement are the meaningfulness of work and
employee voice. When employees believe their work is meaningful and their voice is
valued (i.e., satisfied with their level of influence and the credit they receive), they are
more likely to be engaged. Contributing to and extending this line of inquiry, we focus
on a specific social manifestation of employee engagement and examine the advice-
sharing behavior of the city workforce of Marietta, Georgia. Specifically, we investi-
gate the following research question:
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between an employee’s perception
of voice and his or her propensity to voluntarily cross certain intraorganizational
boundaries (i.e., vertical and lateral boundaries due to differentiation and special-
ization) and share advice (i.e., give or receive)?
Before outlining our research method and reporting our findings, we review the
literature to establish the value of this line of inquiry, define an employee’s perception
Williams and Bland
671
of voice as a multidirectional construct, and develop several related hypotheses. We
conclude this article with a discussion of our findings and their implications for
research and for practice. Our findings suggest that a positive perception of voice may
be a key driver or antecedent to social manifestations of employee engagement such
as advice sharing. As such, the assessment and management of the multiple percep-
tions of employee voice may be critical to the free flow of information and knowledge
and the formation of informal workplace relations (i.e., advice ties and networks) that
support work-related improvements and change.
Literature Review
Employee engagement, as articulated by Alfes and Shantz (2011), has been conceptu-
alized by many as a “multi-factorial behavioral, attitudinal, and affective individual
differences variable” (p. 9). For example, Schaufeli, Bakker, and Salanova (2006)
describe three interrelated dimensions that reflect a state of engagement: vigor, dedica-
tion, and absorption. Similarly, Kahn (1992) defined engagement as a psychological
presence and immersion in one’s work that includes being attentive, connected, inte-
grated, and focused on role performance (Rees et al., 2013). Alfes et al. (2010) build
upon Kahn’s (1992) notion of presence and immersion to define employee engage-
ment as “being positively present during the performance of work by willingly con-
tributing intellectual effort and experiencing both positive emotions and meaningful
connection to others” (p. 5).
As a precursor to many desirable behaviors and organizational benefits, empirical
studies have found a significant positive relationship exists between high levels of
engagement and an employee’s willingness to go the “extra mile” (e.g., Akingbola &
van den Berg, 2017; Rich, LePine, & Crawford, 2010; Sonnentag, 2003; Stromgren,
Eriksson, Bergman, & Dellve, 2016). Empirical studies have also found a significant
positive relationship between high levels of engagement and organizational citizen-
ship behaviors as well as an employee’s sense of fulfillment, job satisfaction, and the
extent to which they identify with their jobs. Recently, as described in the introduction,
several scholars have made an important distinction between intellectual, affective,
and social manifestations of employee engagement (Akingbola & van den Berg, 2017;
Alfes et al., 2010; Rees et al., 2013). Building on this distinction, this study shifts some
much-needed attention to advice sharing as a social manifestation of employee
engagement.
Advice Sharing as a Social Manifestation of Employee Engagement
When facing opportunities or problems for which they do not have sufficient confi-
dence or knowledge to tackle alone, as described by Nebus (2006), employees may
choose to embark on an ad hoc, voluntary advice search. This voluntary search may
result in advice ties and networks that span intraorganizational boundaries and improve
the flow of information and knowledge within organizations (Argyris, 1976; Maden,
2012). Unlike the more general depictions of social networks or Barnard’s (1938)
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Review of Public Personnel Administration 40(4)
notion of the informal organization, these advice ties and networks do not encompass
all of the individuals with whom an employee has a broadly defined relationship.
Instead, these networks are task-related and only refer to situations where the employee
has the freedom to contact whomever they choose (Nebus, 2006). This form of advice
sharing is best understood as a social manifestation of employee engagement, as
described in the introduction, because it is a voluntary effort to leverage and learn from
the experience of others and achieve work-related improvements and change.
Advice network formation is a three-step process: (1) the initial decision to cross an
intraorganizational boundary and begin...
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