Speaking up is critical for organizational and individual success. Yet, while some employees speak up, others hesitate to voice their concerns and needs. Why? We propose the answer is found in a single word: Hierarchy. In the current article, we review the employee voice literature and the role that the power and status of both the voicer and the voice target play in the decision to speak up, as well as the communication, appraisals, attributions, and reactions to that voice. Identifying the vital role hierarchy plays in the voice process, including the desire to ascend a hierarchy, led us to offer a new, broader definition of voice that acknowledges both prosocial and self-interested motivations. We define employee voice as any voluntary, internal, and upward communication intended to achieve one or several goals related to a person’s work, position, or needs within their organization; the work, position, or needs of other organizational stakeholders; and/or the functioning of their organization. To synthesize past findings and offer a generative theoretical lens, we introduce the Hierarchy of Voice framework. This framework extends prior perspectives by offering a dyadic approach that incorporates the perspective of the voice target. In doing so, our framework also captures the dynamic relationship between voice and hierarchy, where voice can reinforce or alter the standing of the voicer and the target. We use the Hierarchy of Voice framework to offer avenues for future research that can deepen our understanding of the dynamic role that hierarchy plays in employee voice.

大声说出来对于组织和个人的成功至关重要。然而，虽然一些员工直言不讳，但其他员工却不愿表达他们的担忧和需求。为什么？我们建议在一个词中找到答案：层次结构。在当前的文章中，我们回顾了员工建言文献以及发声者和建言目标的权力和地位在决定直言不讳中所扮演的角色，以及沟通、评估、归因和对该建言的反应. 确定等级制度在发声过程中扮演的重要角色，包括提升等级的愿望，促使我们提供了一个新的、更广泛的发声定义，承认亲社会和自利动机。我们将员工心声定义为旨在实现与个人在其组织内的工作、职位或需求相关的一个或多个目标的任何自愿的、内部的和向上的沟通；其他组织利益相关者的工作、职位或需求；和/或他们组织的运作. 为了综合过去的发现并提供生成的理论视角，我们引入了语音层次框架。该框架通过提供结合语音目标视角的二元方法扩展了先前的视角。在这样做的过程中，我们的框架还捕获了声音和层次结构之间的动态关系，其中声音可以加强或改变发声者和目标的地位。我们使用声音层次框架为未来的研究提供途径，以加深我们对层次结构在员工声音中所扮演的动态角色的理解。