administrative

sciences

Article
Inclusive Leadership and Employee Voice Behaviour:
Serial Mediating Effects of Psychological Safety and
Affective Commitment
Olawale Fatoki

Department of Business Management, University of Limpopo, Mankweng 0727, South Africa;

[email protected]

Abstract: Leaders have an important role to play in the creation of an organisational climate that
fosters learning, engagement and voice behaviour. This study investigated the effect of inclusive
leadership on the voice behaviour of the employees of small hospitality firms in South Africa. In
addition, this study examined the serial mediating effects of psychological safety and affective
commitment. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the primary studies to explore
the sequential mechanism through which inclusive leadership impacts employee voice behaviour.
This study used a quantitative research design, and data were collected from employees in a cross-
sectional survey. This study adopted the convenience sampling method, and SPSS AMOS27 was
used for structural equation modelling. The findings indicated the positive effect of inclusive
leadership on employee voice behaviour. In addition, this study confirmed the serial mediating roles
of psychological safety and affective commitment. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper
understanding of the factors that can promote employee voice in hospitality firms through the testing
of a new theoretical model. The findings of this study have important implications for policy and
practice in the hospitality industry.

Keywords: inclusive leadership; psychological safety; affective commitment; voice behaviour;

hospitality firms

Citation: Fatoki, Olawale. 2024. 1. Introduction

Inclusive Leadership and Employee
Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are the lifeblood of developing and
Voice Behaviour: Serial Mediating
developed economies through their contributions to employment, economic growth and
Effects of Psychological Safety and
innovation (Gherghina et al. 2020). In South Africa, SMMEs make up the majority of
Affective Commitment. Administrative
Sciences 14: 199. https://doi.org/
official businesses (up to 90% in some estimates) and contribute approximately 34% of
10.3390/admsci14090199
the gross domestic product and 60% of all jobs (Banking Association of South Africa 2021;
Enaifoghe and Ramsuraj 2023). The hospitality industry is a major part of the small business
Received: 18 July 2024 sector in many countries. Tourism and hospitality include many small operators ranging
Revised: 22 August 2024
from motels to hotels, lodges and restaurants (Peters et al. 2019). The hospitality industry
Accepted: 25 August 2024
provides opportunities for SMMEs to thrive by offering products and services to meet the
Published: 30 August 2024
needs of tourists (Baloch et al. 2022). SMMEs in general and small hospitality firms in
particular suffer from a high failure rate because of internal and external challenges (Bushe
2019; Korol and Spyridou 2020).
Copyright: © 2024 by the author.
Employees are internal assets of a firm, and their voices are an incentive for high-
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. quality decisions that can create a dynamic and responsive workplace and significantly
This article is an open access article boost performance (Chen et al. 2020; Hosseini et al. 2022). Employee voice can be described
distributed under the terms and as “speaking out and challenging the status quo with the intent of improving the situation”
conditions of the Creative Commons (LePine and Dyne 1998, p. 853). Voice behaviour is about the intentional expression of
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// relevant ideas, opinions, information and thoughts and concerns with a focus on work-
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ related improvements (Qi et al. 2023). In the context of hospitality firms, voice can be
4.0/). particularly important in terms of operation, service and organisational management. From

Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14090199 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/admsci

Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 2 of 18

the perspective of operation and service, the interaction between employees and customers
is a key characteristic of the hospitality industry (Özkan et al. 2023). High-level interaction
with customers contributes to the important role of employee voice in innovation because
the voices of frontline employees provide significant insights into improving service quality
and managing market changes (King et al. 2020). Employee voice in the hospitality industry
is important to job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Raub 2018). Given the
benefits of employee voice in the hospitality industry, it is important to understand its
antecedents (Alang et al. 2022; Younas et al. 2023).
Leaders have an important role to play in the creation of an organisational climate that
fosters learning, engagement and interaction (Nejati and Shafaei 2023). Leader behaviour
is a key determinant of subordinate voice. Leaders can influence norms in the workplace
in the context of voice by encouraging or hindering employee voice (Chamberlin et al.
2017; Qi et al. 2023). Research on employee voice has primarily focused on the effects
of transformational, servant, authentic and ethical leadership styles (Xu et al. 2021; Dua
et al. 2023; Adhyke et al. 2023). However, inclusive leadership as a form of relational
leadership puts emphasis on accessibility, openness and availability in the way leaders
interact with subordinates and has emerged as a new leadership paradigm (Randel et al.
2018). An inclusive leader provides employees with the opportunity to express their ideas
and abilities. Therefore, inclusive leadership is becoming very important in the rapidly
changing and complex work environment (Guo et al. 2022; Qi et al. 2023).
The literature is sparse on the effect of inclusive leadership on employee voice be-
haviour. Inclusive leadership has been linked to change-oriented organisational citizenship
behaviour and diversity climate and taking charge behaviour (Javed et al. 2019; Zeng et al.
2020). In addition, Guo et al. (2022) and Jiang et al. (2023) claim that the effect of inclusive
leadership on employee voice behaviour is more likely to be indirect. There is a need to
comprehend the mechanism through which inclusive leadership can affect voice behaviour.
The boundary conditions through which inclusive leadership affect employee voice be-
haviour are unclear (Guo et al. 2022). It is important for future studies to better understand
the factors that can intervene in the relationship between inclusive leadership and voice
behaviour (Younas et al. 2023). Some studies have investigated the indirect effects of some
constructs in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour.
Qi and Liu (2017) investigated the mediating effect of a caring organisational climate. Guo
et al. (2022) examined the indirect roles of power distance and leader identification. Jiang
et al. (2022) explored the mediating role of leader–member exchange, while Liu and Wu
(2023) examined the effects of psychological empowerment and organisational identifica-
tion. The study by Zeng et al. (2020) examined the mediating effects of psychological safety
and thriving at work in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee taking-
charge behaviour. Taking charge is different from voice. Voice involves the communication
of constructive ideas to improve a situation. Taking charge involves taking concrete action
(Van Dyne et al. 2008). This study draws on psychological safety nd affective commitment
as the mechanisms through which inclusive leadership can affect employee voice. Voice
behaviour in organisations can be a challenging and risky extra-role behaviour (Liu and
Wu 2023). This requires individuals to feel safe in voicing their opinions. Psychological
safety is defined as the “sense of being able to show and employ oneself without fear
of negative consequences to self-image, status or career” (Kahn 1990, p. 708). Affective
commitment describes the emotional attachment of an employee to the organisation and
may be of crucial importance to the employee’s feeling of empowerment and speaking up
(Caliskan et al. 2023). This suggests that psychological safety and affective commitment
can be the mechanisms through which inclusive leadership can affect employee voice
behaviour. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has examined the mediating
effects of psychological climate and affective commitment in the relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour.
In addition, studies that have focused on serial mediation in inclusive leadership
and voice behaviour research are sparse (Liu and Wu 2023). Serial mediation enables the
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 3 of 18

impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable to be transmitted through a

series of mediators (Lemardelet and Caron 2022). A serial mediation model hypothesises a
causal chain that links mediators with a specified direction flow (Yang Yanxu et al. 2022).
While existing evidence has established the link between inclusive leadership and voice
behaviour, it is unclear how psychological safety and affective commitment mediate the
pathway through which inclusive leadership impacts employee voice behaviour. Thus, this
study uses a serial mediation model to examine the serial mediation effects of psychological
safety and affective commitment. The serial mediation model proposes a causal chain
linking the mediators in a specified direction flow (inclusive leadership → psychological
safety → affective commitment → voice behaviour). Serial mediation shows that the
mediators themselves are in a hierarchical causal relationship, which is particularly useful
in examining fine-grained causal chains of mediation (Demming et al. 2017). Furthermore,
the use of serial mediation is becoming important in research on leadership styles and
employee and organisational performance as it allows for a better understanding of the flow
of the interactions among independent, mediator and dependent variables (Ali Hussain
et al. 2021; Pu Bo et al. 2022; Zafar Hina et al. 2022; Karatepe et al. 2023). To the best of the
author’s knowledge, no study has investigated the serial mediating effects of psychological
safety and affective commitment in the relationship between inclusive leadership and
employee voice behaviour. This creates a significant gap in leadership styles and employee
voice research.
The aim of this study is to investigate the serial mediating effects of psychological
safety and affective commitment in the relationship between inclusive leadership and
employee voice behaviour in small hospitality firms. This study addresses the following
research questions: (1) What is the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee
voice? (2) What is the mediating effect of psychological safety in the relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee voice? (3) What is the mediating effect of affective
commitment in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice? and
(4) What are the serial mediating effects of psychological safety and affective commitment
in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice?
The results of this study make the following contributions. This study fills existing
research gaps in the following ways. First whilst there is ample research evidence on
the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour, studies that
examined the mediating effects of psychological safety and affective commitment are
lacking. This study contributes to the literature by testing a new theoretical model that
shows how inclusive leadership affects employee voice behaviour directly and indirectly
through the serial mediation effects of psychological safety and affective commitment.
Research on employee voice has mainly focused on large firms. This study contributes to
the literature by conceptualising how employee voice can be enabled in small hospitality
firms. In addition, research on voice behaviour in hospitality firms that normally have a
hierarchical organisational structure with power imbalance between leaders and employees
has received scant theoretical attention (Dai et al. 2021; Huang et al. 2023). Furthermore,
there is a need to expand knowledge on the mechanism through which inclusive leadership
can impact voice behaviour (Younas et al. 2023; Qi et al. 2023). The pathways between
inclusive leadership, psychological safety, affective commitment and voice have not been
tested. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee voice through a new theoretical model. The findings of
this study can help the management of small hospitality firms to understand the leadership
style to adopt to improve employee voice and the factors that can improve this relationship
to increase organisational performance. This paper is structured as follows. Sections Two
and Three focus on the literature review and research methodology. The results, discussion
and conclusion are presented in Sections Four, Five and Six, respectively.
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 4 of 18

2. Literature Review
2.1. Hospitality and SMMEs
SMMEs in South Africa can be defined both qualitatively and quantitatively. For the
qualitative definition, the firm should be a distinct and separate body that is operated
by one or more owners (Government Gazette 2003). The quantitative definition follows
a schedule and uses the number of employees and annual turnover to classify SMMEs
into sectors. SMMEs in the accommodation sector include micro (0–10 employees, to-
tal annual turnover, equal to or less than South African Rand (ZAR) 7.5 million, small
(11–50 employees, turnover equal to or less than ZAR 15 million), and medium
(51–250 employees, turnover equal to or less than ZAR 40 million) (Government Gazette
2019). This study used the number of employees to classify SMMEs. Hospitality is de-
scribed as a commercial business that provides accommodation. Hotels, lodges, motels,
guesthouses, pubs, taverns, restaurants and cafes are included in the hospitality sector
(Department of Labour of South Africa 2016). This study focuses on hotels, lodges, motels
and guesthouses with fewer than 250 employees.

2.2. Social Exchange Theory

The Social Exchange theory (SET) provides the theoretical justification for this study.
The SET posits that the exchange process drives the social behaviour of individuals. When
leaders treat followers favourably, followers feel the obligation to respond by working hard
(Blau 1964). The SET suggests that the interaction between a leader and a subordinate is
symbiotic and reciprocal, with positive actions triggering positive reactions (Wang et al.
2020b). As suggested by the SET, an inclusive leader is perceived as providing support
and assistance to employees in an organisation. Employees feel obliged to repay the
organisation and leader (Li and Tang 2022).

2.3. Inclusive Leadership

The concept of inclusive leadership was first proposed by Nembhard and Edmondson
in 2006 as a leadership style in the field of organisational behaviour. Inclusive leader-
ship uses three attributes, specifically, openness, availability and accessibility, to motivate
employees and achieve organisational support (Carmeli et al. 2010). Nembhard and Ed-
mondson (2006, p. 947) define inclusive leadership as “positive behavioural actions of
leaders to motivate employees to contribute to the organisation”. Nembhard and Edmond-
son (2006, p. 948) remark that “inclusive leaders create an environment where one can
consider others’ point of view, for instance, “voices are genuinely valued”. Inclusive leaders
are easily accessible and approachable for interaction with employees. Inclusive leaders
listen to the suggestions of team members and encourage them to contribute to decision-
making in organisations. Inclusive leaders treat employees with recognition, respect and
tolerance by recognising their contributions and appreciating their opinions (Zhou and
Mou 2021; Li and Tang 2022; Çetinkaya and Yeşilada 2022). There is a difference between
inclusive leadership and other leadership styles such as servant, transformational and au-
thentic. Inclusive leadership tends to focus on meeting basic human needs for uniqueness
and belongingness. An inclusive leader is fair interactive, supportive and fault-tolerant
with positive effects on the behaviour of subordinates (Carmeli et al. 2013; Randel et al.
2018; Chang et al. 2022).

2.4. Psychological Safety

Kahn (1990, p. 708) defines psychological safety as “feeling able to show and em-
ploy one’s self without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status, or career”.
Edmondson (1999, p. 354) defines psychological safety as “a shared belief that the team
is safe for interpersonal risk-taking”. Edmondson (2004) remark that employees tend to
devote their attention to constructive and productive discussions that ensure the shared
accomplishment of goals. Psychological safety plays an important role in an organisation’s
strategic management processes and outcomes by encouraging open and honest commu-
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 5 of 18

nication between employees and leaders. Phycological safety improves problem-solving,

enables effective decision-making and encourages the generation of innovative ideas
(Negara et al. 2023).

2.5. Affective Commitment

Commitment can be defined as a “force that binds an individual to a course of action
of relevance to one or more targets” (Meyer and Herscovitch 2001, p. 301). Organisational
commitment can be linked to commitment and can be described as the willingness of an
employee to exert effort and work hard to achieve organisational goals (Khan and Iqbal
2020). Organisational commitment is a multi-dimensional construct that includes three dis-
tinct components, namely, affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance
commitment. Affective commitment describes the emotional attachment of an employee to
an organisation. Normative commitment refers to a sense of obligation of an employee to
remain in the organisation. Continuance commitment depicts the acknowledgement of the
costs associated with leaving the organisation (Meyer et al. 2002). Out of the three types of
commitment, empirical studies have shown affective commitment to be more associated
with employee- and organisational-relevant outcomes. Affective commitment is a crucial
antecedent of employee effective in-role and extra-role behaviour (Odoardi et al. 2019). This
study focuses on affective commitment as it has been most widely applied to employee
in-role and extra-role work behaviour (Sinaga et al. 2019). Affective commitment allows
employees to work with dedication, less anxiety and increased involvement with work and
contribute to an organisation’s success (Khan et al. 2021).

2.6. Voice Behaviour

Voice as a pro-organisational behaviour can be defined as constructive change-oriented
communication with the intention of improving the current state of affairs (LePine and Dyne
2001; Khan et al. 2023). LePine and Dyne (1998) describe voice behaviour as a behaviour
that may not be formal or voluntary but can convey constructive viewpoints that can
help to improve an organisation. Employee voice is the behaviour that employees exhibit
to suggest improvement ideas that will help to solve existing organisational problems
with the goal of improving organisational performance (Morrison 2023). According to
Morrison (2011, p. 375), employee voice is defined as “discretionary communication
of ideas, suggestions, concerns, or opinions about work-related issues with the intent
to improve organizational or unit functioning”. LePine and Dyne (1998) developed a
unidimensional scale to measure voice behaviour. Liang et al. (2012), in contrast to
the unidimensional approach, distinguished between promotive and prohibitive voice
behaviour. While promotive voice depicts suggestions that help to improve organisational
processes, to make the organisation better, prohibitive voice depicts the expression of
concern by employees about incidents, work practices and behaviours that are harmful
to their organisations (Liang et al. 2012). The study by Maynes and Podsakoff (2014)
distinguishes between four types of voice, namely, supportive constructive, defensive and
destructive. The first two depict promotive voice and the other two represent prohibitive
voice. Botha and Steyn (2023) remark that the literature provides empirical evidence of the
use of the LePine and Dyne (1998) unitary (1998), the Liang et al. (2012) bi-dimensional
approach and the Maynes and Podsakoff (2014) multi-dimensional operationalisation of
voice. This study adopts the LePine and Dyne (1998) unitary operationalisation of voice.

2.7. Hypotheses
2.7.1. Inclusive Leadership and Employee Voice
In a study on inclusive leadership and employee voice, Qi et al. (2023) remark that
the behaviour of leaders can influence subordinate voice because inclusive leadership puts
emphasis on two-way interaction between leaders and employees. Inclusive leaders are
approachable, open and tolerant in their relationship with subordinates. Their study finds
that inclusive leadership positively affects promotive and prohibitive voices. Qi and Liu
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 6 of 18

(2017) note that leadership inclusivenss includes listening to new voices, accepting new
information and accepting a new challenge. This can positively influence employee work
attitude, increase trust in leadership and improve psychological security. The findings of
the study by Qi and Liu (2017) indicate a significant positive relationship between inclusive
leadership and employee voice. Guo et al. (2022) remark that through interactions and
openness, an inclusive leader can motivate the voice behaviour of employees. Inclusive
leadership encourages employee organisational participation, embraces the new ideas of
employees and encourages employees to speak out. Inclusive leadership enhances em-
ployee uniqueness and belonging and improves employee self-esteem and voice behaviour.
Their study finds that inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour are significantly
positively related. Liu and Wu (2023) point out that an inclusive leader, through accessibil-
ity, openness and availability, fosters an organisational environment that is supportive of
employees. Their study finds that inclusive leadership promotes employees’ promotive and
prohibitive voices. Jolly and Lee (2021) remark that the perception of risk that may result
from voice is reduced when leaders show openness and accessibility. When managers
adopt an inclusive leadership style, employees tend to think that their suggestions will be
accepted, and this can positively affect their voices. The voice behaviour of employees is
effectively motivated through the interaction between an inclusive leader and employees.
The characteristics of an inclusive leader such as openness, accessibility and availability
encourage organisational participation and the willingness of employees to voice their
views. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1. Inclusive leadership and employee voice are significantly positively related.

2.7.2. Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

Psychological safety has been used as a mediator in the relationship between some
leadership styles and employee behaviour and outcomes. Jin et al. (2022) explore the
mediating role of psychological safety in the relationship between ethical leadership and
employee innovative behaviour. Sobaih et al. (2022) examine the indirect role of psy-
chological safety in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee
turnover intention. Ge (2020) examines the effect of psychological safety on employee work
behaviour and argues that the perception of psychological safety by employees is likely to
influence their voice behaviour. The findings of the study suggest that psychological safety
encourages employees to speak up and voice their concerns and opinions in the workplace.
O’Donovan and McAuliffe (2020) remark that when teams feel psychologically safe at work,
members are willing to take interpersonal risks and feel safe to speak up and engage in
voice behaviour. Manganyi (2023) describes a significant positive relationship between
psychological safety and employee voice behaviour. Soyalin and Karabey (2020) explain
that the relationship between perceived organisational ethical climate and employee voice
is mediated by psychological safety. Lee and Dahinten (2021) suggest that psychological
safety mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and the voice behaviour of
hospital nurses. The findings of the study by Zeng et al. (2020) indicate that psychological
safety mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee taking-charge
behaviour. While the direct relationships among inclusive leadership, psychological safety
and employee voice behaviour have stimulated some studies, research on the indirect effect
of psychological safety in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee
voice behaviour in hospitality firms is scarce. Inclusive leadership can positively influence
employee psychological safety by creating an environment where individuals feel respected
and valued, allowing them to contribute to their fullest potential.
This in turn may positively encourage employee voice behaviour. Consequently, it is
hypothesised that

H2. Psychological safety mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice.
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 7 of 18

2.7.3. Mediating Role of Affective Commitment

Caliskan et al. (2023) explain that affective commitment in combination with low
continuance behaviour is a significant determinant of voice behaviour. Cheng et al. (2022b)
indicate that affective commitment has a significant positive relationship with employee
voice behaviour. Employees with high levels of affective commitment are more willing
to improve an organisation by asking questions about existing problems and offering
suggestions that lead to organisational improvement. The findings of the study by Cheng
et al. (2022a) indicate that the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice
behaviour is mediated by affective commitment. The mediating effect of affective com-
mitment in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee performance has
elicited some studies. Joshy and Varghese (2024) indicate that affective commitment medi-
ates the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee organisational citizenship
behaviour. Ly (2024) explains that affective commitment mediates the relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee work engagement. The findings of the study by Wang
et al. (2020a) indicate that inclusive leadership positively affects affective commitment.
In addition, affective commitment is positively related to followers taking charge. Fur-
thermore, the relationship between inclusive leadership and followers taking charge is
mediated by affective commitment. Abbasi et al. (2022) indicate that affective commit-
ment indirectly influences the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee
knowledge-hiding behaviour. A thorough review of the literature shows that research on
the indirect role of affective commitment in the relationship between inclusive leadership
and employee voice behaviour is sparse. Choi et al. (2015) remark that inclusive lead-
ership can impact affective commitment in some ways. An inclusive leader listens and
responds to the opinions and contributions of subordinates. This can positively affect sub-
ordinates’ feelings of empowerment and encourage their voice behaviour. Consequently, it
is hypothesised that

H3. Affective commitment mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice.

2.7.4. Serial Mediating Effects of Psychological Safety and Affective Commitment

Li et al. (2022) point out that employees with a high level of psychological safety feel
supported by their organisations with a positive impact on their commitment. Their study
finds that psychological safety positively affects the affective commitment of employees.
Uğurlu and Ayas (2016) indicate that affective commitment mediates the relationship
between psychological safety and employee voice behaviour. The findings of the study
by Joshy and Varghese (2024) reveal that psychological safety and affective commitment
serially mediate the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee organisational
citizenship behaviour. Nisar et al. (2020) remark that affective commitment mediates the
relationship between compassion and employee voice behaviour. The findings of the study
by Zeng et al. (2020) indicate that psychological safety and thriving at work serially mediate
the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee-taking charge behaviour.
The extant research evidence has established the link between inclusive leadership and
voice behaviour. However, it is unclear how psychological safety and affective commitment
serially mediate the pathway through which inclusive leadership impacts employee voice
behaviour. A psychologically safe atmosphere can promote a work environment that is
characterised by mutual respect and trust. This can positively affect emotional experiences
and encourage affective bonds within an organisation. Thus, it is hypothesised that

H4. Psychological safety and affective commitment serially mediate the relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour.

Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model of this study.

 H4. Psychological safety and affective commitment serially mediate the relationship between inclu-
sive leadership and employee voice behaviour.

Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model of this study.
8 of 18

Figure 1. Conceptual model. IL = inclusive leadership; PS = psychological safety; AC = affective

Figure 1. Conceptual
commitment; model.
VB = voice IL = inclusive leadership; PS = psychological safety; AC = affective com-
behaviour.
mitment; VB = voice behaviour.
3. Materials and Methods
3. Materials
This studyand followed
Methods the positivist philosophy and a deductive research approach.
The quantitative research the
This study followed method was adopted
positivist for this
philosophy andstudy with descriptive
a deductive research and causal
approach.
research approaches. Data were collected from respondents through the cross-sectional
The quantitative research method was adopted for this study with descriptive and causal sur-
vey method, which was self-administered. A structured questionnaire was
research approaches. Data were collected from respondents through the cross-sectional used to collect
data from
survey survey
method, respondents.
which This study focused
was self-administered. on small questionnaire
A structured hospitality firmswasinused
Polokwane
to col-
anddata
lect Belafrom
Bela in the Capricorn
survey and Waterberg
respondents. This studyDistrict
focusedMunicipalities of Limpopo
on small hospitality firmsProvince,
in Polo-
South Africa.
kwane and BelaThis study
Bela focused
in the on employees
Capricorn in various
and Waterberg departments
District of hospitality
Municipalities firms.
of Limpopo
There is no population list or sampling frame of employees of hospitality
Province, South Africa. This study focused on employees in various departments of hos- firms in the
study area, so this study adopted the non-probability convenience sampling
pitality firms. There is no population list or sampling frame of employees of hospitality method. The
10-times
firms rule
in the was area,
study used so
to determine the appropriate
this study adopted sample size based
the non-probability on the formative
convenience sampling
indicators that were used to quantity the constructs of the investigation (Hair et al. 2019).
method. The 10-times rule was used to determine the appropriate sample size based on
Data collection followed the following process. First, a list of hotels, motels and lodges was
the formative indicators that were used to quantity the constructs of the investigation
created from the Trivago website. The website focuses on hotel searches. The managers and
(Hair et al. 2019). Data collection followed the following process. First, a list of hotels,
owners of the identified firms were contacted through a combination of personal meetings,
motels and lodges was created from the Trivago website. The website focuses on hotel
telephone calls and emails to inform them about the aim of this study and to request their
searches. The managers and owners of the identified firms were contacted through a com-
participation in the survey. The number of employees of the firms was obtained at this
bination of personal meetings, telephone calls and emails to inform them about the aim of
stage. Eighty-two firms agreed to participate in the survey made up of seventy-nine small
this study and to request their participation in the survey. The number of employees of
firms (11–50 employees) and three medium-sized firms (51–250 employees). An initial pilot
the firms was obtained at this stage. Eighty-two firms agreed to participate in the survey
study was conducted with three small firms and twenty employees. The participants in the
made up of seventy-nine small firms (11–50 employees) and three medium-sized firms
pilot study did not take part in the main survey. The results of the pilot study led to some
(51–250 employees). An initial pilot study was conducted with three small firms and
amendments to the questionnaire. In addition, two experts in the fields of leadership and
small firms also examined the questionnaire. Their valuable comments assisted in the devel-
opment of the final questionnaire. Data collection was performed through a pilot study and
an actual survey between June 2023 and February 2024. A permission letter was given to
each conveniently selected participant during actual data collection and the questionnaire
administration. Each participant was given two weeks to complete the questionnaire, and
their emails and phone numbers were obtained at that stage. Survey participants were
regularly reminded through telephone calls to complete the questionnaires. IBM SPSS
AMOS 27 was used for data analysis. SPSS AMOS was especially used for confirmatory
factor analysis and to confirm relationships between observed and latent variables.

Measures
Voice behaviour was measured by the six-item scale from LePine and Dyne (1998)
using the five-point Likert scale, where “1—strongly disagree and 5—strongly agree”. The
items included “My manager is open to hearing new ideas”. The Cronbach’s alpha of the
scale was 0.866.
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 9 of 18

Inclusive leadership was measured using the nine-item scale by Carmeli et al. (2010)
and the five-point Likert scale, where “1—strongly disagree and 5—strongly agree”. The
items included “my manager is an ongoing ‘presence’ in this team”. The Cronbach’s alpha
of the scale was 0.873.
Affective commitment was measured by the four-item scale by Allen and Meyer (1990)
using the five-point Likert scale, where “1—strongly disagree and 5—strongly agree”. The
items included “I feel a strong sense of belonging at this organisation”. The Cronbach’s
alpha of the scale was 0.803.
Psychology safety was measured using the three-item scale by Carmeli et al. (2010)
and the five-point Likert scale, where “1—strongly disagree and 5—strongly agree”. The
items included “in my work unit, I can freely express my thoughts”. The Cronbach’s alpha
of the scale was 0.794.

4. Results
4.1. Response Rate and Demographic Details
Overall, 700 questionnaires were distributed to the participants of the survey. A total
of 420 questionnaires were returned, which were duly completed and found usable. Fifteen
questionnaires were not included in the data analysis because the respondents did not
complete many important parts of the questionnaire.
Table 1 depicts the biographical details of the respondents. The gender composition
of the respondents was 198 males and 222 females. A total of 105 respondents were in the
21–30 age group, 129 respondents were in the 31–40 age group, 108 respondents were in the
41–50 age group and 78 respondents were in the 51–60 age group. Most of the respondents
had post-Matric (high school) qualifications and had been with their firms for between six
and ten years.

Table 1. Respondents’ biographic details.

Biographic Details Frequency Percentage

Gender
Male 198 47%
Female 222 53%
Age
21–30 years 105 25%
31–40 years 129 31%
41–50 years 108 26%
51–60 years 78 18%
Level of education
Matric (high school) or below 164 39%
Post-Matric (diploma, degree) 256 61%
Number of years in the organisation
Less than one year 27 6%
1–5 years 111 26%
6–10 years 146 35%
11–15 years 116 28%
15–20 years 20- 5%-

4.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The skewness and kurtosis values were used to check the normality of the data, as
described by Kline (2011). The values of skewness for the items to measure the constructs
of this study were all below 3, and those for kurtosis were less than 8, thus ensuring the
normality of the data. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using IBM Amos 27 was used to
assess the quality of the measurement model. Before testing the hypotheses of this study,
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the measures’ psychometric properties
by utilising AMOS 27. CFA was used to examine convergent and discriminant validity,
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 10 of 18

as shown by the measurement model and the Fornell and Larcker. CFA was also used to
test the fit of the model. SPSS was used to perform descriptive statistics and correlational
analysis and to verify the main effects. The SPSS plug-in process macro programme was
used to analyse the intermediary and serial intermediary effects.
The results of the CFA, as depicted by Table 2, indicated that there were some poorly
loaded items and some items cross-loaded with other items in the model. This led to the
removal of two items with factor loadings lower than 0.5, one from inclusive leadership
and one from psychological safety. The four-factor model demonstrated an acceptable fit
with χ2 = 405.028, df = 229, χ2 /df = 1.768, CFI = 0.958, TLI = 0.953, RMSEA = 0.044, and
SRMR = 0.041. Table 2 also depicts the values of the AVE, the composite reliability and
Cronbach’s alpha. The AVE values for the four constructs of this study were all greater
than 0.5. The AVE values for inclusive leadership, psychological safety, affective commit-
ment and voice were 0.540, 0.580, 0.563 and 0.550, respectively. The composite reliability
values were all greater than 0.7. The composite reliability values for inclusive leadership,
psychological safety, affective commitment and voice were 0.862, 0.779, 0.816 and 0.831,
respectively. This confirms convergent validity (Hair et al. 2019). In addition, Cronbach’s
coefficients for all the constructs were greater than 0.70. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for
the four constructs were 0.873, 0.794, 0.803 and 0.866. This provides evidence of internal
consistency (Hair et al. 2019). Discriminant validity was confirmed using the criterion
established by Fornell and Larcker (1981), as indicated by Table 3.

Table 2. Measurement model.

Average
Factor Composite Cronbach’s
Construct Variance
Loading Reliability Alpha
Explained (AVE)
Inclusive leadership
0.540 0.802 0.873
(IL)
IL1 0.742
IL2 0.739
IL3 0.677
IL4 0.802
IL5 0.748
IL6 0.783
IL7 -
IL8 0.708
IL9 0.644
Psychological safety
0.580 0.779 0.794
(PS)
PS1 0.822
PS2 0.679
PS3 0.755
PS4 -
PS5 0.784
Affective commitment
0.563 0.816 0.803
(AC)
AC1 0.695
AC2 0.738
AC3 0.764
AC4 -
AC5 0.803
Voice behaviour (VB) 0.550 0.831 0.866
VB1 0.722
VB2 0.695
VB3 0.741
VB4 0.779
VB5 0.828
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 11 of 18

Table 3. Discriminant validity.

Construct 1 2 3 4
1 IL 0.735
2 PS 0.622 0.762
3 AC 0.426 0.368 0.750
4 VB 0.530 0.414 0.482 0.743
IL, inclusive leadership; PS, psychological safety; AC, affective commitment; VB, voice behaviour.

4.3. Common Method Variance

Data were collected from the respondents through the self-reported method; therefore,
common method variance may exist, as pointed out by Podsakoff et al. (2003). This
study followed the procedural controls (ex-ante/before data collection), as suggested by
Podsakoff et al. (2003) and Kock et al. (2021), to minimise common method variance. These
included anonymity, confidentiality, voluntary participation and avoiding complex and
ambiguous items. To reduce the social desirability effect on the data, the respondents
were assured of confidentiality, anonymity and voluntary participation. Also, the scales in
the questionnaire were paginated to reduce the same continuity scale. A rest period was
allowed between answering the questions on each page, thus creating a time difference
in the answering of questions. In addition, temporal separation was used by collecting
self-reported data from the same source (employees) at different points in time (Kock et al.
2021). Data were collected from the respondents in two waves, with a two-month time lag.
At time 1, the respondents completed the questions on the independent and dependent
variables. At time 2, the respondents completed questions on the mediating variables. In
addition, the statistical control to minimise CMV ex-post (after data collection) included
the use of Harman’s single factor test, the correlation marker technique, the CFA marker
technique regression-based marker technique and the unmeasured latent method construct
(ULMC) (Kock et al. 2021). Harman’s single-factor test was used to evaluate CMV. The
results indicated that the four factors extracted accounted for 67.18% of the total variance.
The results indicated that the first factor explained 32.47% of the variance, suggesting that
CMV was not present. The results of Harman’s test as shown by the CFA indicated that
no one factor accounted for more than 40% of the variance, suggesting that CMV was not
present Podsakoff et al. (2003). Because Harman’s single factor test only helps to identify
if CMV is present or not, and does not control for CMV, it cannot be solely used. The
results of the ULMC were χ2 = 400.203, df = 227, χ2 /df = 1.763, CFI = 0.955, TLI = 0.951,
RMSEA = 0.041, and SRMR = 0.040. The results indicated that differences in the values of the
CFI, TLI, RMSEA and SRMR of the measurement model compared with the measurement
model with the ULMF were all below 0.05. This suggested that CMV was not a significant
issue in this study.

4.4. Test of Hypotheses

Table 4 depicts the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and the
correlations among the constructs. Figure 2 and Table 5 depict the statistical represen-
tation of the serial mediation model. The figure also shows the regression coefficients
and the significance levels. Hypothesis one proposes that inclusive leadership is signif-
icantly positively related to employee voice. The findings indicate that the direct effect
(β = 0.083, t = 4.625, p < 0.01) between the two variables is significant. Thus, hypothesis
one is supported. Hypothesis two proposes that psychological safety mediates the effect of
inclusive leadership on employee voice. The findings (β = 0.383. t = 4.926, p < 0.05) indicate
that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety. In addition, inclusive
leadership (β = 0.083, t = 4.625, p < 0.01) is positively related to employee voice. Also, the
findings indicate that psychological safety (aibi) (β = 0.194, LLC = 0.014, ULCI = 0.342)
mediates the positive effect of inclusive leadership on employee voice. Thus, hypothesis
two is supported. Hypothesis three proposes that affective commitment mediates the
positive effect of inclusive leadership on employee voice. The findings show that (β = 0.401,
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 12 of 18

t = 3.075, p < 0.05) inclusive leadership is positively related to affective commitment.

Also, affective commitment (β = 0.125, t = 3.308, p < 0.05) is positively related to em-
ployee voice. In addition, the findings indicate that affective commitment mediates the
positive relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice (a2b2) (β = 0.50,
LLCI = 0.037, ULCI = 0.191). Thus, hypothesis three is supported. Hypothesis four pro-
poses that psychological safety and affective commitment serially mediate the relationship
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 20
between inclusive leadership and employee voice. The findings (a1d2b2) (β = 0.0065,
LLCI = 0.113, ULCI = 0.175) indicate that psychological safety and affective commitment
sequentially mediatestatistics
Table 4. Descriptive the effect ofcorrelation
and inclusive analysis.
leadership on employee voice.

Construct
Table 4. DescriptiveMean Standard
statistics and Deviation
correlation analysis. 1 2 3 4
1 IL 4.05 0.99 -
Construct Mean Standard Deviation 1 2 3 4
2 PS 3.92 1.03 0.528 **
1 IL
3 AC 4.05
4.28 0.99
1.07 -
0.347 ** 0.622 **
2 PS 3.92 1.03 0.528 **
3 AC
4 VB 3.75
4.28
1.05
1.07
0.479
0.347 **
** 0.508
0.622 **
** 0.622 **
IL,4inclusive
VB leadership;
3.75 PS, psychological
1.05 safety; AC,0.479
affective
** commitment;
0.508 ** VB, **
0.622 voice behaviour;
IL,**inclusive
p < 0.05.leadership; PS, psychological safety; AC, affective commitment; VB, voice behaviour; ** p < 0.05.

Figure
Figure Results
2. 2. Resultsofofmodel test.
model Serial
test. mediation
Serial model
mediation ofof
model inclusive leadership
inclusive onon
leadership voice. * p* <p 0.001,
voice. < 0.001,
p <p 0.01.
** ** < 0.01. p<
****** p <0.05.
0.05.

Table
Table 5. 5. Indirect
Indirect effects.
effects.

Relationship
Relationship Indirect
Indirect Effect Bootstrap
Effect BootstrapSESE LLCI
LLCI ULCI
ULCI
IL-PS-EV
IL-PS-EV (aibi)
(aibi) 0.194
0.194 0.105
0.105 0.014
0.014 0.342
0.342
IL-AC-EV
IL-AC-EV (a2b2)
(a2b2) 0.050
0.050 0.179
0.179 0.037
0.037 0.191
0.191
IL-PS-AC-EV
IL-PS-AC-EV (aid2b2)
(aid2b2) 0.0065
0.0065 0.131
0.131 0.113
0.113 0.175
0.175

5. 5.
Discussion
Discussion
This study
This studyinvestigated
investigatedthe effect
the effectofof
inclusive leadership
inclusive style
leadership onon
style employee
employeevoice. InIn
voice.
addition, this
addition, study
this examined
study examined the
themechanisms
mechanisms through
throughwhich
which inclusive
inclusiveleadership affects
leadership affects
employee voice through the serial mediation effects of psychological safety and affective
commitment. The findings of this study indicated that inclusive leadership style positively
influences employee voice. The findings of this study suggest that inclusive leadership
encourages employees to speak out. The findings are consistent with previous empirical
studies. The results of the study by Qi et al. (2023) indicate that inclusive leadership posi-
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 13 of 18

employee voice through the serial mediation effects of psychological safety and affective
commitment. The findings of this study indicated that inclusive leadership style positively
influences employee voice. The findings of this study suggest that inclusive leadership
encourages employees to speak out. The findings are consistent with previous empirical
studies. The results of the study by Qi et al. (2023) indicate that inclusive leadership posi-
tively affects employee voice. Other studies by Qi and Liu (2017), Guo et al. (2022), Jolly
and Lee (2021) and Liu and Wu (2023) indicate a significant positive relationship between
inclusive leadership and employee voice behaviour. In addition, the findings of this study
indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety. Also, psycho-
logical safety positively affects employee voice. Furthermore, psychological safety mediates
the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice. The results indicate
that psychological safety is a mechanism through which inclusive leadership can affect
employee voice. Ge (2020) explains that psychological safety encourages employees to
speak up and voice their concerns and opinions in the workplace. According to O’Donovan
and McAuliffe (2020), when teams feel psychologically safe at work, members are willing to
take interpersonal risks and feel safe to speak up and engage in voice behaviour. The find-
ings of the study by Manganyi (2023) indicate a significant positive relationship between
psychological safety and employee voice behaviour. The findings of the study by Lee and
Dahinten (2021) show that psychological safety mediates the relationship between inclusive
leadership and employee voice behaviour. The findings of this study showed that inclusive
leadership positively influences affective commitment. Also, affective commitment posi-
tively affects employee voice. Furthermore, affective commitment mediates the relationship
between inclusive leadership and employee voice. The results indicate that affective com-
mitment is a mechanism through which inclusive leadership can affect employee voice.
The findings of the study by Choi et al. (2015) indicate that inclusive leadership positively
influences employee affective commitment. An inclusive leader listens and responds to the
opinions and contributions of subordinates. When subordinates appreciate their leaders,
they tend to exhibit a high level of affective commitment. In addition, Cheng et al. (2022b)
and Caliskan et al. (2023) indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between
affective commitment and employee voice behaviour. Cheng et al. (2022b) remark that the
relationship between ethical leadership style and employee voice behaviour is mediated
by affective commitment. The study by Ly (2024) indicates that affective commitment
mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee work engagement.
Abbasi et al. (2022) explain that affective commitment indirectly influences the relationship
between inclusive leadership and employee knowledge-hiding behaviour. The findings of
this study indicate that psychological safety and affective commitment sequentially mediate
the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice. This study indicates
that psychological safety positively affects affective commitment. Also, both psychological
safety and affective commitment sequentially mediate the relationship between inclusive
leadership and employee voice behaviour.

6. Conclusions
6.1. Theoretical Contribution
This study developed and tested a new theoretical model on the mechanism through
which inclusive leadership can affect employee voice behaviour in the hospitality industry
by examining the intervening roles of psychological safety and affective commitment.
The findings of this study indicated that psychological safety and affective commitment
sequentially mediate the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee voice.
Employees are an important stakeholder in organisations, and their voice behaviour is
important in change management, adaptation and organisational effectiveness and long-
term sustainability. Given the benefits of voice, it is important to understand the factors that
influence employees’ voice behaviour. This study contributes empirically to the literature
on employee voice behaviour by showing how an inclusive leadership style can help to
promote voice. Also, this study adds to the literature by revealing the factors that can
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 14 of 18

indirectly influence in a sequential manner the relationship between inclusive leadership

and employee voice.

6.2. Managerial Implications

The findings of this study offer some valuable implications for employee voice be-
haviour, especially in the context of hospitality firms. The management of hospitality firms
should develop an inclusive management style to promote employee voice behaviour. To
promote voice behaviour, an inclusive leader needs to encourage the open exchange of ideas
and collaborative communication by creating open communication channels and active
listening. The implementation of a feedback system by an inclusive leader will encourage
employees to give their opinions and receive feedback. An inclusive leader can also use
reward and recognition to promote employee voice behaviour. Organisations and leaders
can also ensure that employee voice mechanisms are included in decision-making processes
through actions that reduce hierarchy. Digital technology such as emails, blogs and social
networking sites can also be leveraged by leaders to encourage employees to share their
ideas, knowledge and views and obtain feedback. Thus, training the top management on
how to introduce an inclusive leadership style is very important. In addition, there is a
need to train employees to understand that expressing voice is important to organisational
effectiveness. It is important for leaders to promote psychological safety. This can include,
as pointed out by the Centre for Creative Leadership, facilitating employees to speak up
and making psychological safety a clear priority by creating a safe open environment.
Training on how to create psychological safety in organisations is important. In addition,
efforts to promote affective commitment by providing support to employees, creating
procedural justice and rewarding employees should be promoted.

6.3. Limitations and Areas for Further Research

This study has some limitations that can be addressed by future research. This study
utilised the cross-sectional research approach, which has limits on the causality of observed
relationships. A longitudinal research approach can help to improve causality. This study
focused on two mediators. The use of multiple mediators and the inclusion of moderating
variables can help to better understand the mechanism through which inclusive leadership
can affect employee voice. This study was performed in only one country. Replicating
this study in different settings may help to confirm the findings. This study used the
quantitative research approach. A mixed method approach that combines both quantitative
and qualitative methods can help to provide additional information. This study used a
quantitative approach and obtained mainly quantitative information. The addition of a
qualitative approach can potentially enrich the results and enhance the validity of inferences
through in-depth exploration.
This study focused on a limited sample of small firms in the hospitality industry.
Therefore, care should be exercised in generalising the findings to all small firms and the
hospitality industry. In addition, as pointed out by Huang et al. (2023), results of voice
behaviour in the general business field may not always be relevant in the hospitality context.
For instance, compared with technology companies, hospitality firms have unique charac-
teristics. Whilst the hospitality industry tends to have a more hierarchical and bureaucratic
organisational structure, technology firms tend to have a relatively flat organisational
structure that encourages employees to voice their opinions. Thus, the context and factors
that influence voice can be different in various industries. Ng et al. (2019) remark that
culture plays a significant role in shaping workplace role expectations and behaviours.
Cooperative behaviours are often expected in collectivistic and high-power distance cul-
tures compared with individualistic and low-power distance cultures, where expressing
one’s ideas is more important. Therefore, cultural differences can affect employee voice
behaviour, and there is a need to extend this study to firms in other industries and cultures.
Data were collected through employee self-reporting, and this may cause bias. Further
studies should collect data about employee voice behaviour from managers. This study
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 15 of 18

adopted the LePine and Dyne (1998) unitary operationalisation of voice. Other studies can
examine the pathways through which inclusive leadership affects voice by using the Liang
et al. (2012) bi-dimensional approach (promotive and prohibitive) to the operationalisation
of voice.

Funding: The research received internal funding from the author’s university. This research was
funded by the Department of Business Management, University of Limpopo grant no BMAN/23/1.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of the University
of Limpopo (protocol code TREC/205/2023:IR and dated 23 April 2023) for studies involving humans.
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement: The research results were obtained from the questionnaire constructed
by the Author of this publication. The data presented in this study are available on request from the
corresponding author.
Conflicts of Interest: The author of the paper confirms that there is no conflict of interest.

References
Abbasi, Ahmed Salman, Zaki Rashidi, and Usman Ghani. 2022. Inclusive leadership and employees’ knowledge hiding behaviors: The
mediating role of interpersonal trust and affective commitment as a moderator. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences
16: 452–71.
Adhyke, Yuzi Prilla, Anis Eliyana, Ahmad Rizki Sridadi, Dina Fitriasia Septiarini, and Aisha Anwar. 2023. Hear Me Out! This Is My
Idea: Transformational Leadership, Proactive Personality and Relational Identification. SAGE Open 13: 1–15. [CrossRef]
Alang, Tho, Pauline Stanton, and Mark Rose. 2022. Enhancing employee voice and inclusion through inclusive leadership in public
sector organizations. Public Personnel Management 51: 309–29. [CrossRef]
Ali Hussain, Shuai Chuanmin, Mansoor Ahmed, Arshad Mahmood, Mohammad Khayyam, and Anna Tikhomirova. 2021. Transfor-
mational Leadership and Project Success: Serial Mediation of Team-Building and Teamwork. Frontiers in Psychology 12: 689311.
[CrossRef] [PubMed]
Allen, Natalie, and John Meyer. 1990. The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the
organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology 63: 1–18. [CrossRef]
Baloch, Qadar Bakhsh, Sourath Maher, Sourath Maher, Muhammad Sheeraz, Nadeem Iqbal, and Hassan Raza. 2022. Revitalization
of tourism and hospitality sector: Preempting pandemics through lessons learned. Environmental Science and Pollution Research
29: 83099–111. [CrossRef]
Banking Association of South Africa. 2021. SME Small Medium Enterprises. Available online: http://www.banking.org.za/what-we-
do/sme/ (accessed on 15 September 2023).
Blau, Peter Micheal. 1964. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley.
Botha, Larysa, and Renier Steyn. 2023. Employee voice as a behavioural response to psychological contract breach: The moderating
effect of leadership style. Cogent Business & Management 10: 1–23. [CrossRef]
Bushe, Bernard. 2019. The causes and impact of business failure among small to micro and medium enterprises in South Africa. Africa’s
Public Service Delivery & Performance Review 7: 1–26.
Caliskan, Sibel, Ela Unler, and Ekrem Tatoglu. 2023. Commitment profiles for employee voice: Dual target and dominant commitment
mindsets. Current Psychology 28: 1696–714. [CrossRef]
Carmeli, Abraham, Roni Reiter-Palmon, and Enbal Ziv. 2010. Inclusive Leadership and Employee Involvement in Creative Tasks in the
Workplace: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety. Creativity Research Journal 22: 250–60. [CrossRef]
Carmeli, Abraham, Roy Gelbard, and Roni Reiter-Palmon. 2013. Leadership, creative problem-solving capacity, and creative
performance: The importance of knowledge sharing. Human Resource Management 52: 95–121. [CrossRef]
Çetinkaya, Bülent, and Tahir Yeşilada. 2022. Inclusive leadership and employee innovative work behaviours: Testing a psychological
empowerment and leader-member exchange moderated-mediation model. Journal of Psychology in Africa 32: 15–20. [CrossRef]
Chamberlin, Melissa, Daniel Newton, and Jeffery LePine. 2017. A meta-analysis of voice and its promotive and prohibitive forms:
Identification of key associations, distinctions, and future research directions. Personnel Psychology 70: 11–17. [CrossRef]
Chang, Po-Chien, Guangya Ma, and Ying-Yin Lin. 2022. Inclusive leadership and employee proactive behavior: A cross-level
moderated mediation model. Psychology Research and Behavior Management 15: 1797–808. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Chen, Liangyong, Modan Li, Yenchun Jim Wu, Chusheng Chen, and Elsadig Musa Ahmed. 2020. The voicer’s reactions to voice:
An examination of employee voice on perceived organizational status and subsequent innovative behavior in the workplace.
Personnel Review 50: 1073–92. [CrossRef]
Cheng, Jin, Haiqing Bai, and Caixia Hu. 2022a. The relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice: The roles of error
management climate and organizational commitment. Journal of Management and Organization 28: 58–76. [CrossRef]
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 16 of 18

Cheng, Jin, Xin Sun, Jinting Lu, and Yuqing He. 2022b. How Ethical Leadership Prompts Employees’ Voice Behavior? The Roles of
Employees’ Affective Commitment and Moral Disengagement. Frontiers in Psychology 12: 732463. [CrossRef]
Choi, Suk Bong, Thi Bich Hanh Tran, and Byung Park. 2015. Inclusive leadership and work engagement: Mediating roles of affective
organizational commitment and creativity. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal 43: 931–44. [CrossRef]
Dai, You-De, Wen-Long Zhuang, Po-Kai Yang, Yi-Jun Wang, and Tzung-Cheng Huan. 2021. Exploring hotel employees’ regulatory foci
and voice behavior: The moderating role of leader-member exchange. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
33: 27–47. [CrossRef]
Demming, Carsten Leo, Steffen Jahn, and Yasemin Boztuğ. 2017. Conducting Mediation Analysis in Marketing Research. Journal of
Research and Management 39: 76–93. [CrossRef]
Department of Labour of South Africa. 2016. Definition of Hospitality Department of Labour Annual Report 2016/2017. Available
online: https://nationalgovernment.co.za/department_annual/188/2017-department:-labour-annual-report.pdf (accessed on 15
August 2023).
Dua, Ashok Kumar, Ayesha Farooq, and Sumita Rai. 2023. Ethical leadership and its influence on employee voice behaviour: Role of
demographic variables. International Journal of Ethics and Systems 39: 213–35. [CrossRef]
Edmondson, Amy. 1999. Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly 44: 350–83.
[CrossRef]
Edmondson, Amy. 2004. Psychological safety, trust, and learning in organizations: A group-level lens. In Trust and Distrust in
Organizations: Dilemmas and Approaches. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 239–72.
Enaifoghe, Andrew, and Trisha Ramsuraj. 2023. Examining the Function and Contribution of Entrepreneurship through Small and
Medium Enterprises as Drivers of Local Economic Growth in South Africa. African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies 5: 1–11.
[CrossRef]
Fornell, Claes, and David Larcker. 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error.
Journal of Marketing Research 18: 39–50. [CrossRef]
Ge, Yuanqin. 2020. Psychological safety, employee voice, and work engagement. Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal
48: 1–7. [CrossRef]
Gherghina, Stefan Chritian, Mihai Alexandru Botezatu, Alexandra Hosszu, and Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu. 2020. Small and
Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): The Engine of Economic Growth through Investments and Innovation. Sustainability 12: 347.
[CrossRef]
Government Gazette. 2003. National Small Business Amendment Act National Small Business Amendment Act [No. 26 of 2003]. Avail-
able online: https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/423041gon399.pdf (accessed on 15 October 2023).
Government Gazette. 2019. National Small Enterprise Act: Schedule 1: Amendment. National Small Business act 26 of 2019. Available
online: https://www.gov.za/documents/national-small-business-amendment-act-0 (accessed on 15 October 2023).
Guo, Yungui, Yanting Zhu, and Lihua Zhang. 2022. Inclusive leadership, leader identification and employee voice behavior: The
moderating role of power distance. Current Psychology 41: 1301–10. [CrossRef]
Hair, Joseph, Jeffrey Risher, Marko Ringle, and Christain Sarstedt. 2019. When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM.
European Business Review 31: 2–24. [CrossRef]
Hosseini, Elahe, Saeid Saeida Ardekani, Mehdi Sabokro, and Aidin Salamzadeh. 2022. The study of knowledge employee voice among
the knowledge-based companies: The case of an emerging economy. Revista de Gestão 29: 117–38. [CrossRef]
Huang, Yidan, Amit Sharma, and Heyao Yu. 2023. A systematic review of employee voice literature in hospitality. Journal of Hospitality
and Tourism Management 56: 532–42. [CrossRef]
Javed, Basharat, Sayyed Muhammad Mehdi Raza, Abdul Karim Khan, and Hafez Habi Tayyeb. 2019. Impact of inclusive leadership on
innovative work behavior: The role of psychological safety. Journal of Management and. Organisation 25: 117–36. [CrossRef]
Jiang, Jianwu, Wanling Rong Ding, and Saisai Li. 2022. Inclusive leadership and employees’ voice behavior: A moderated mediation
model. Current Psychology 41: 6395–405. [CrossRef]
Jiang, Shan, Guofeng Ma, Ding Wang, and Jianyao Jia. 2023. How Inclusive Leadership Influences Voice Behavior in Construction
Project Teams: A Social Identity Perspective. Project Management Journal 54: 116–31. [CrossRef]
Jin, Xiu, Chenglin Qing, and Shanyue Jin. 2022. Ethical Leadership and Innovative Behaviour: Mediating Role of Voice Behaviour and
Moderated Mediation Role of Psychological Safety. Sustainability 14: 5125. [CrossRef]
Jolly, Phillip, and Lindsey Lee. 2021. Silence is not golden:motivating employee voice through inclusive leadership. Journal of Hospitality
& Tourism Research 45: 1092–113. [CrossRef]
Joshy, Lishin, and Ranjana Varghese. 2024. Unveiling the mechanisms by which inclusive leadership influences the good soldier
syndrome among health-care employees. Leadership in Health Services 37: 408–22. [CrossRef]
Kahn, William. 1990. Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal
33: 692–724. [CrossRef]
Karatepe, Osman, Fevzi Okumus, Saied Nosrati, and Ksenia Gurcham. 2023. Test of a serial mediation model of Machiavellian
leadership among hospitality and tourism employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management 111: 1–11. [CrossRef]
Khan, Ali Junaid, and Jawad Iqbal. 2020. Training and employee commitment: The social exchange perspective. Journal of Management
Sciences 7: 88–100. [CrossRef]
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 17 of 18

Khan, Ali Junaid, Furukh Bashir, Ismat Nasim, and Rashid Ahmad. 2021. Understanding affective, normative & continuance
commitment through the lens of training & development. IRASD Journal of Management 3: 105–13. [CrossRef]
Khan, Muhammad Mumtaz, Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik, Syed Saad Ahmed, Syed Rizwan Ali, and Syed Sajid Siraj. 2023. Instilling
employees with meaning to communicate: Servant leadership affecting employee voice behavior through meaning. Global
Knowledge, Memory and Communication, ahead-of-print. [CrossRef]
King, Ceridwyn, Kevin Kam Fung So, Robin DiPietro, and Debra Grace. 2020. Enhancing employee voice to advance the hospitality
organization’s marketing capabilities: A multilevel perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management 91: 102657.
[CrossRef]
Kline, Rex. 2011. Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.
Kock, Florian, Adiyukh Berbekova, and George Assaf. 2021. Understanding and Managing the Threat of Common Method Bias:
Detection, Prevention and Control. Tourism Management 86: 104330. [CrossRef]
Korol, Tomasz, and Anastasia Spyridou. 2020. Examining Ownership Equity as a Psychological Factor on Tourism Business Failure
Forecasting. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 3048. [CrossRef]
Lee, Seung Eun, and Susan Dahinten. 2021. Psychological safety as a mediator of the relationship between inclusive leadership and
nurse voice behaviors and error reporting. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 53: 737–45. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Lemardelet, Laura, and Pier-Olivier Caron. 2022. Illustrations of serial mediation using PROCESS, Mplus and R. The Quantitative
Method for Psychology 18: 66–90. [CrossRef]
LePine, J. A., and Linn Van Dyne. 2001. Voice and Cooperative Behavior as Contrasting Forms of Contextual Performance: Evidence of
Differential Relationships with Big Five Personality Characteristics and Cognitive Ability. Journal of Applied Psychology 86: 326–36.
[CrossRef]
LePine, Jeffrey, and L. Van Dyne. 1998. Predicting Voice Behavior in Work Groups. Journal of Applied Psychology 83: 853–68. [CrossRef]
Li, Jiahui, Sisi Li, Tiantian Jing, Mayangzong Bai, Zhiruo Zhang, and Huigang Liang. 2022. Psychological Safety and Affective
Commitment Among Chinese Hospital Staff: The Mediating Roles of Job Satisfaction and Job Burnout. Psychology Research for
Behavioural Management 15: 1573–85. [CrossRef]
Li, Tong, and Ningyu Tang. 2022. Inclusive Leadership and Innovative Performance: A Multi-Level Mediation Model of Psychological
Safety. Frontiers in Psychology 13: 934831. [CrossRef]
Liang, Jian, Crystal Farh, and Jiing-Lih Farh. 2012. Psychological Antecedents of Promotive and Prohibitive Voice: A Two-Wave
Examination. Academy of Management Journal 55: 71–92. [CrossRef]
Liu, Chunlei Min Chen, and Xiaoqin Wu. 2023. A chain mediation model of inclusive leadership and voice behavior among university
teachers: Evidence from China. Scientific Report 13: 1–10. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Ly, Bora. 2024. Inclusion Leadership and Employee Work Engagement: The Role of Organizational Commitment in Cambodian Public
Organization. Asia Pacific Management Review 29: 44–52. [CrossRef]
Manganyi, Tiyisela. 2023. Exploring Psychological Safety, Supportive Leadership Behaviour and Voice Behaviour on Employee
Engagement in the South African Mining Sector. Available online: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/2019
df7d-efb3-42f4-b37a-ec2651b07b17/content (accessed on 15 October 2023).
Maynes, Timothy, and Philip Podsakoff. 2014. Speaking more broadly: An examination of the nature, antecedents, and consequences
of an expanded set of employee voice behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology 99: 87. [CrossRef]
Meyer, John, and Lynne Herscovitch. 2001. Commitment in the workplace: Toward a general model. Human Resource Management
Review 11: 299–326. [CrossRef]
Meyer, John, David Stanley, Lynne Herscovitch, and Laryssa Topolnytsky. 2002. Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to
the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior 61: 20–52. [CrossRef]
Morrison, Elizabeth. 2011. Employee voice behavior: Integration and directions for future research. Academy of Management Annals
5: 373–412. [CrossRef]
Morrison, Elizabeth. 2023. Employee voice and silence: Taking stock a decade later. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and
Organizational Behavior 10: 79–107. [CrossRef]
Negara, Ade irma Setya, Fachrizal Helmi, Ariesta Tohir Madistriyatno, and Harries Wijaya. 2023. How Important Psychological Safety
is in Supporting Strategic Management to Achieve Success: A Narrative Literature Review. Open Access Indonesia Journal of Social
Sciences 6: 1083–91. [CrossRef]
Nejati, Mehran, and Azadeh Shafaei. 2023. The role of inclusive leadership in fostering organisational learning behaviour. Management
Research Review 46: 1661–78. [CrossRef]
Nembhard, Ingrid, and Amy Edmondson. 2006. Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on
psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior 27: 941–66. [CrossRef]
Ng, Kok-Yee, Linn Van Dyne, and Soon Ang. 2019. Speaking out and speaking up in multicultural settings: A two-study examination
of cultural intelligence and voice behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 151: 150–59. [CrossRef]
Nisar, Asmar, Tariha Hassan Butt, Ghulam Abid, Saira Farooqi, and Tehmina Qazi. 2020. Impact of grit on voice behavior: Mediating
role of organizational commitment. Future Business Journal 6: 23–31. [CrossRef]
O’Donovan, Roisin, and Eilish McAuliffe. 2020. A systematic review of factors that enable psychological safety in healthcare teams.
International Journal for Quality in Health Care 32: 240–50. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Adm. Sci. 2024, 14, 199 18 of 18

Odoardi, Carlo, Adagisa Battistelli, Jose Peiro, and Fransesco Montani. 2019. Affective Commitment, Participative Leadership, and
Employee Innovation: A Multilevel Investigation. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 35: 103–13. [CrossRef]
Özkan, Osman, Irene Üzüm, and Burcu Huertas-Valdivia. 2023. Fostering employee promotive voice in hospitality: The impact of
responsible leadership. Tourism Management Perspectives 49: 101186. [CrossRef]
Peters, Mike, Andreas Buhalis, and Dimitrios Kallmuenzer. 2019. Hospitality entrepreneurs managing quality of life and business
growth. Current Issues in Tourism 22: 2014–33. [CrossRef]
Podsakoff, Philip, Scott MacKenzie, Yeon Lee, and Nathan Podsakoff. 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical
review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology 88: 879–903. [CrossRef]
Pu Bo, Ji Siyu, Sang Wenyuan, and Zhiwei Tang. 2022. Entrepreneurial Leadership and Entrepreneurial Performance in Start-Ups: A
Moderated Serial Mediation Model. Frontiers in Psychology 13: 831555. [CrossRef]
Qi, Lei, and Bing Liu. 2017. Effects of Inclusive Leadership on Employee Voice Behavior and Team Performance: The Mediating Role of
Caring Ethical Climate. Frontiers in Communication 2: 1–9. [CrossRef]
Qi, Lei, Yuping Xu, and Bing Liu. 2023. Does justice matter in voice? Inclusive leadership and employee voice: The moderating role of
organizational justice perception. Frontiers in Psychology 14: 1313922. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Randel, Amy E., Benjamin Galvin, Lynn Shore, Karen Ehrhart, Beth Chung, Michelle Dean, and Uma Kedharnath. 2018. Inclusive
leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management
Review 28: 190–203. [CrossRef]
Raub, Steffen. 2018. Perceived insider status and job design predict job attitudes and work performance of restaurant employees.
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 42: 880–903. [CrossRef]
Sinaga, Anggun Tiur Ida, Prihatin Lumbanraja, Isfenti Sadalia, and Amlys Syahputra Silalahi. 2019. The Influence of Affective
Commitment on Employee Innovative Work Behavior. Journal of International Conference on Economics and Business 1: 1–6.
Sobaih, Abu, Hassane Gharbi, and Ahmed Elnasr. 2022. Do You Feel Safe Here? The Role of Psychological Safety in the Relationship
between Transformational Leadership and Turnover Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Risk and Financial Management
15: 340. [CrossRef]
Soyalin, Mesut, and Canan Nur Karabey. 2020. The Relationship between Organizational Ethical Climate and Employee Voice
Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety. Business and Economics Research Journal 11: 875–89. [CrossRef]
Uğurlu, Ozlem, and Sibel Ayas. 2016. The Relationship between Psychological Safety and Employee Voice: The Mediation Role of
Affective Commitment and Intrinsic Motivation. Journal: İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi 8: 223. [CrossRef]
Van Dyne, Linn, Dishan Kamdar, and Jeffrey Joireman. 2008. In-role perceptions buffer the negative impact of low LMX on helping
and enhance positive impact of LMX on voice. Journal of Applied Psychology 93: 1195–207. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Wang, Qiao, Jianmin Wang, Fanqyuan Li, Xiaohu Zhou, and Mengze Wang. 2020a. How Inclusive Leadership Enhances Follower
Taking Charge: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment and the Moderating Role of Traditionality. Psychology Research and
Behavior Management 13: 1103–14. [CrossRef]
Wang, Qiao, Xiaohu Zhou, Jiani Bao, Xueyan Zhang, and Wei Ju. 2020b. How Is Ethical Leadership Linked to Subordinate Taking
Charge? A Moderated Mediation Model of Social Exchange and Power Distance. Frontiers in Psychology 11: 315. [CrossRef]
Xu, Zhihua, Jianfeng Peng, and Fu Yang. 2021. How does authentic leadership influence employee voice? From the perspective of the
theory of planned behavior. Current Psychology 42: 1851–69. [CrossRef]
Yang Yanxu, Yendelela Cuffee, Betsy Aumiller, Kathryn Schmitz K, David Almeida, and Vernon Chinchilli. 2022. Serial Mediation
Roles of Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in the Association between Sleep Quality and Life Satisfaction Among
Middle-Aged American Adults. Frontiers in Psychology 13: 822564. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Younas, Amjad, Daoping Wang, Basharat Javed, and Adnan Haque. 2023. Inclusive leadership and voice behavior: The role of
psychological empowerment. Journal of Social Psychology 163: 174–90. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Zafar Hina, Feng Tian, Jo Ann Ho, and Gaoqi Zhang. 2022. Environmentally specific servant leadership and voluntary pro-
environmental behavior in the context of green operations: A serial mediation path. Frontiers in Psychology 13: 1059523. [CrossRef]
[PubMed]
Zeng, Hao, Lijing Zhao, and Yixuan Zhao. 2020. Inclusive Leadership and Taking-Charge Behavior: Roles of Psychological Safety and
Thriving at Work. Frontiers in Psychology 11: 1–12. [CrossRef]
Zhou, Fei, and Jian Mou. 2021. Does social media usage evoke employees’ spirituality? A cross-level moderation model of inclusive
leadership. Information Technology and People 35: 962–83. [CrossRef]

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual
author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to
people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.