How can prosocial silence be golden? The roles of commitment to learning and organizational support
ISSN: 0969-6474
Article publication date: 4 December 2023
Issue publication date: 12 March 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing from organizational learning theory, social exchange theory and positive psychology approach, this study aims to examine the relationship between commitment to learning and prosocial silence, as well as the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used path analysis to examine the relationships between research variables. Data were collected from 275 employees of private sector companies in Turkey through an online survey platform. To test the proposed hypotheses, the authors conducted regression and mediation analyses using the bootstrapping method.
Findings
The results indicate that the organization’s commitment to learning positively and significantly impacts employee prosocial silence, and POS partially mediates this relationship.
Practical implications
Managers who aim to promote other-oriented and helping behavior in the organization should understand how prosocial silence can be golden. They should cultivate and model a learning mindset by focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses, reward experimentation and provide employees with timely feedback allowing them to think and reflect on their failures.
Originality/value
Although the dominant position of previous studies endorses the detrimental sides of organizational silence, less research has focused on employees’ prosocial silence behavior and the underlying mechanisms that may explain employees’ tendency to remain silent with helpful intent, a gap this research attempts to fill.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Part of this study was presented at the 4th Organizational Behavior Congress, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey, 04/11/2016 – 05/11/2016.
Statements and declerations:
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Meral Kızrak and Hakkı Okan Yeloğlu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Meral Kızrak and Hakkı Okan Yeloğlu commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding: The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
Interest to declare: All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors declare they have no competing interests.
Ethics approval, consent, data, materials and/or code availability: The authors declare that ethics approval and informed consent are available. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Citation
Kızrak, M. and Yeloğlu, H.O. (2024), "How can prosocial silence be golden? The roles of commitment to learning and organizational support", The Learning Organization, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 250-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-03-2023-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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