How can leaders and HR management motivate employees and make them more satisfied? A motivational perspective on the relationship between employee voice and job satisfaction.

The purpose of the present study was to explore how constructive and destructive voice affects job satisfaction by developing a theoretical model that integrates Social Exchange Theory with Motivational Theory. The study tested the mediating role of transactional and transformational leadership and a specific approach for rewarding employees on the relationship between voice behaviours and job satisfaction. The empirical analysis is based on survey data from 301 workers in 19 Italian worker cooperatives. The hypotheses were tested using a path model that analysed the direct and indirect effects. The findings show an indirect effect of both forms of voice on job satisfaction. Results demonstrate different mediating effects of transformational and transactional leadership and performance-based reward on the primary relationships. The study illuminates the relationship between different forms of voice behaviours and job satisfaction by adopting a dual perspective of voice orientations, not only oriented for improvement. It is also the first to explore the underlying explanation of this relationship. Finally, providing an additional contribution to the theory of motivation, this study offers implications for people-oriented organisations such as cooperatives for whom the contributions of individuals are central to organisational functioning.