When and Under What Conditions Does High Team Voice Hamper Team Innovation?

Very little attention has been paid to how team voice impacts on team innovation, and previous research only considers average level of team voice while neglects the variations in team voice; also, team voice has only been studied in western-settings. Accordingly, this study purports to examine that under the culture of horizontal collectivism, how and the extent to which 1) interactions between mean and dispersion of team voice affects innovation, and 2) this effect is moderated by different types of climate contexts. Data collected from Shanxi Province in China, including 54 teams, 265 employees, 54 supervisors and 54 managers, were used to test the hypotheses. Results show that under higher dispersion of voice, the effect of mean voice on innovation is positive while under lower dispersion of voice, there is no effect of mean voice on innovation. Further, when dispersion of voice is higher, the influence of different types of climate on mean voice and innovation is contrasting, with accelerating effect from climate for excellence and hindering effect from intra-team competition climate. This study illuminates and examines the social-contextual, individual differential, and cultural properties of voice behavior and how these properties lead to levels of team innovation.