Do not say a word! Conceptualizing employee silence in a long-term crisis context

Abstract

Although research has emphasized the organizational and individual factors that influence employee voice and silence at work, it is less known how employee voice/silence is affected by the economic context, particularly when this context is one of intensive and long-term economic crisis in a country with weak institutional bases. In this study, we explore how employee silence is formulated in long-term turbulent economic environments and in more vulnerable organizational settings like those of small enterprises. The study draws on qualitative data gathered from 63 interviews with employees in a total of 48 small enterprises in Greece in two periods of time (2009 and 2015). This study suggests a new type of employee silence, social empathy silence, and offers a conceptual framework for understanding the development of silence over time in particular contexts of long-term turbulence and crisis.

Keywords:

• Crisis
• employee voice
• employee silence
• Greece
• social empathy silence
• small enterprises

Notes

1. This study follows the definition of SMEs given by European Commission (2003/361/EC). SMEs can be distinguished in Medium-sized companies (<250 Employees & 50 m Turnover), Small companies (<50 Employees & 10 m Turnover) and Micro companies (<10 Employees & 2 m Turnover).