Employee silence motives: Investigation of dimensionality and development of measures

Summary In four studies, I examine the motives for employee silence. In Study 1, I examine open‐ended survey responses to determine the nature and scope of silence motives. Study 2 develops measures of these motives and explores their factor structure. Study 3 refines the measures and provides confirmatory evidence of factor structure. Study 4 examines relationships between the new measures and related factors (employee voice, psychological safety, neuroticism, extraversion). Results indicate that six dimensions of silence motives ( ineffectual , relational , defensive , diffident , disengaged , and deviant ) emerged from the data, which can be reliably measured and provide incremental value for understanding and assessing employee silence. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.