Why bother? Becoming helpless and depressed at work when voice is non-instrumental in an unfair organizational environment

Abstract

Reluctance to voice concerns in organizations because of resignation is often depicted as an example of learned helplessness. This statement is made without clear evidence that these states are indeed similar. We address this gap in the literature by explicitly linking diminished voice behaviors and the phenomenon of learned helplessness. Building on the learned helplessness literature, we explored how perceived non-instrumentality of voice in unfair working environments contributes to the emergence of helplessness feelings. We hypothesized that helplessness feelings, in turn, contribute to resignation through reduced engagement in voice behaviors and an increase in depressive symptoms, in accordance with learned helplessness theory. Respondents were 305 workers who completed an online survey of justice perceptions, voice instrumentality, helplessness feelings at work, voice behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Results corroborated the proposed framework in that perceptions of low voice instrumentality in unfair working contexts were significant predictors of workers’ helplessness feelings. Further, as hypothesized, helplessness feelings were linked to fewer voice behaviors and more depressive symptoms, especially when voice instrumentality was low in unfair contexts, emphasizing the role of past voice instrumentality at work.