This project is about voice behavior – daring to openly speak up for example about ideas, opinions, concerns or moral violations at the workplace. Speaking up is important for signaling shared norms and values to others, challenging the status quo, and preventing misperceptions about others beliefs that could otherwise contribute to the formation of networks of silence. Speaking up can contribute to socially safe environments where people feel accepted, understood and supported. This in turn can encourage feelings of shared responsibility where others dare to speak up as well. For companies aiming to be flexible and adapt quickly and effectively to changes such as shifts in the political environment, technological advancements or changes in the workforce, it is especially important to openly discuss ideas and concerns with each-other. However, speaking up can be difficult as it is usually associated with perceived social risks, such as potential embarrassment, harm to one’s reputation or damaged interpersonal relationships. Therefore, in this project, we investigate under which conditions people take responsibility by speaking up. Besides, we will examine which strategies of speaking up are most effective in influencing how others perceive the speaker and in driving behavior change (e.g., the effect of humorous voice).

PhD

Lena Rieder

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Utrecht University

Supervisor

Prof.dr. Naomi Ellemers

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Utrecht University

PI

Dr. Madelijn Strick

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Utrecht University

PI

Prof.dr. Vincent Buskens

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Utrecht University

• Cooperation

• Employers’ organizations
• Psychology
• Social psychology

• Work

• Feedback Cycles

• Identity flexibility and sustainable cooperation
• Shared responsibility and sustainable cooperation

To understand positive risk-taking behavior, particularly the act of voicing one’s ideas, opinions, and concerns, we draw on the Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat (BPSM-CT; Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996). This framework builds on a threat-and-coping perspective, proposing that people evaluate their situational demands (e.g., difficulty, effort, or discomfort) relative to their available coping resources they possess (e.g., social support, experience, or personal skills). When people perceive that their coping resources are sufficient to meet the situational demands, they are likely to enter a "motivational challenge state". This state is characterized by a focus on potential behavioral benefits, confidence in one’s ability to manage the situation despite its difficulties, and an efficient cardiovascular response marked by increased energy mobilization and delivery. Such physiological and psychological responses are typically related to better performance (Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Frings et al., 2014; Hase et al., 2019). Conversely, when situational demands are evaluated as exceeding available resources, people are likely to experience a "motivational threat state". This state is characterized by a focus on potential behavioral costs, the belief that the situation is overwhelming or unmanageable, and a less efficient cardiovascular response, often resulting in poor performance. Thus, depending on how people evaluate situational demands and resources, they transition into either a challenge or a threat state. In this research project, we apply and extend the BPSM-CT to group contexts and positive risk-taking behaviors such as voice behavior. Specifically, we propose that motivational challenge and threat states—and the underlying cognitive appraisals that give rise to them—play an important role in predicting positive risk-taking behaviors such as speaking up in group settings.

To answer our research questions, we conduct field studies in collaboration with external stakeholders, such as the ARTIS Planetarium in Amsterdam or a motivational speaker, to test interventions aimed at encouraging people to speak up to others, and for example share their pro-environmental intentions. Next to that, we run laboratory experiments that combine physiological measures, including EEG, impedance cardiography (ICG), and blood pressure, with self-report measures to examine whether physiological and psychological challenge and threat states predict voice behavior in response to moral transgressions. Finally, we employ online vignette experiments using self-report measures to identify the most effective strategies for voicing moral concerns to other group members.