The impact of self-monitoring and perceived organizational politics on self-interested voice: A trait activation perspective

This study applied trait activation theory to explore the behavior of employees who adapt to the perceived organizational politics (POP) in their workplace, making them better positioned to voice their opinions. We conducted a three-wave time-lagged survey of 311 employees and supervisors to test our proposed model. The results showed that self-monitoring and POP interacted to influence self-interested voice behavior through self-serving cognition, and this indirect effect was positive when POP was high and did not exist when POP was low. This study has theoretical implications by contributing to the literature on voice, self-monitoring, and POP. In addition, it has practical implications for managers who value employees’ work experiences and want to leverage collective wisdom to ensure organizational development.