URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gmsr.2020(V-III).01 DOI: 10.31703/gmsr.2020(V-III).01 Citation: Nagi, S., & Iqbal, M. Z. (2020). Impact of Managers’ Voice Solicitation on Leader-Member Exchange with the Mediating Role of Employees’ Voice Behavior and Emotional Exhaustion. Global Management Sciences Review, V(III), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.31703/gmsr.2020(V-III).01 Sadaf Nagi * Muhammad Zahid Iqbal † Impact of Managers’ Voice Solicitation on Leader-Member Exchange with the Mediating Role of Employees’ Voice Behavior and Emotional Exhaustion Vol. V, No. III (Summer 2020) Pages: 1 – 13 p- ISSN: 2708-2474 e-ISSN: 2708-2482 L-ISSN: 2708-2474 Employees’ voice plays a vital role in enhancing organizational achievements. Despite its vitality, existing literature provides that managers usually demonstrate reduced voice solicitation. This study attempts to find the likely effects of managers’ reluctance toward employees’ voice. Furthermore, employees who cannot raise their voice may suffer from emotional exhaustion, which in turn can lower their perception of Leader-member exchange (LMX). The extant research was carried out on a sample of 240 respondents from telecom sector of Pakistan as manager-employee matched pairs, supports the above arguments. Based on a variance-based structural equation modelling and bootstrapping procedure, results showed that employees’ voice behavior and employees’ emotional exhaustion serially mediated the relationship between managers’ voice solicitation and LMX. The results highlight the need to have an environment in organizations where employees’ voice is not denigrated. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study were presented. Key Words: Emotional Exhaustion, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Voice Behavior, Voice Solicitation. Introduction In the last two decades, the notion of employee voice has encountered notable research attention in the fields of management, industrial relations and behavioural studies. Amongst others, the focus of the above research has remained on examining the mechanisms underlying employees’ opinions in organizational decisions (Kaufman, 2014). Despite extensive research on employees’ voice, certain aspects related to it have been ignored, thus far. The notable one is how employee voice challenges managerial behavior. Generally, voice is considered a challenging act; therefore, it is resisted and avoided by the intended recipients, e.g., managers (Fast et al., 2014). Furthermore, voice is always perceived to be threatening by others. Hence, employees “read the wind” over periods of time, meaning thereby, they assess as to when their high-ups let them raise voice (Burris, 2012, p. 851). Put simply, employees more often need to analyze the benefits and costs of raising the voice before speaking up (Morrison, 2011). Research has been done to find the potential antecedents as well as outcomes of employee voice; evidence regarding leader’s response and employees’ emotional display, however, is rarely studied (Morrison, 2011). Beukboom (2008) states that the listening behavior of a manager can have certainly called for relational implications, as it creates an atmosphere of trust and intimacy in organizations. Empirical research proves that employees’ psychological well-being and personal development is linked to the positive effects of listening. However, research on the pragmatic outcomes of managers’ voice solicitation and employees’ voice behavior on the quality of the manager-employee relationship has been scarce (Mineyama et al., 2007). For every organization, employees’ voice is considered an important factor as it contributes to the effective functioning of the organization as well as employees performance. Managers need the information to flow from and to their employees smoothly so that work processes around them run efficiently, and potential problems are addressed effectively (Tangirala & Ramanujam, 2008). Being an important source of upward information, employees are often found hesitant and unwilling to raise the voice. This may happen due to the likelihood of facing uncalled for consequences of * Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. Email: sadafnagi@yahoo.com † Associate Professor, Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan Abstract