Toward Reconceptualizing Constructive Employee Voice: Understanding the Process of Voicing in the Renewable Energy Industry in Kenya

Employee voicing facilitates positive changes and experiences for organizations and employees. However, despite a plethora of research on voice in different disciplines, our understanding of the process of employee voicing is still limited. This study seeks to (a) identify the phases that characterize the voicing process and (b) uncover the communicative strategies that characterize the different phases of the voicing process in the renewable energy industry in Kenya. The study utilized a qualitative approach. Namely, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-three renewable energy workers in Kenya who reported to have engaged in voicing. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The findings revealed five core phases that characterize voicing: idea formation, planning, initial enactment, reflexive enactment, and outcome. Further, the findings uncovered a variety of communicative strategies that are used in the different phases of voicing. These strategies emerged from the perspectives of different actors such as voicers, voicers’ peers, and recipients and their peers who are involved in the voicing process. The findings of this study advance voice theory by reconceptualizing voicing as a process that is highly interactive. Additionally, the findings extend voice theory in three other ways. First, the results demonstrate that power and status disparities in organizations produce hierarchies that inhibit voicing, especially among low power and status employees. Participants discussed how they communicatively navigate these disparities. Second, the results shed light on the ways voicers navigate different risks associated with voicing such as idea stealing and retributions. Third, the findings illustrate the specific ways that positive communicative relationships between peers, and between supervisors and subordinates facilitate voicing. Both supervisors and peers are highly involved in all phases of the voicing process and thus, contribute to the development and enactment of the ideas. Finally, the findings offer practical ways for cultivating and fostering voicing to voicers, voicers’ peers, voice recipients, and organizations in the renewable energy industry.