Employee Voice: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Employee voice has witnessed a consistent growth in conceptual as well as empirical research across a range of disciplines. Several reviews have been conducted on employee voice due to diverse and extensive literature available; however, no systematic literature review is available on the antecedents, outcomes, inhibitors, organizational norms and practices in employee voice research. This study, therefore, presents a systematic review of 67 research articles on employee voice published in 33 journals from 2000 to 2021. The articles were collected from seven well-known management databases namely, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, SAGE, Taylor and Francis, Emerald Insight, Wiley and JSTOR. The primary aim of this review is to identify themes of research on employee voice and to assess the methodologies used in the literature. Five themes were used to organize the findings of the research on employee voice. Subsequently, the review also sought to determine the type of research methods employed in the studies of employee voice concentrating on research design, statistical methodology and sectoral focus. On the basis of review findings, the study also discusses practical implications and provides future research directions.