The dynamics of employee voice and exit in service organisations: a Hirschman EVL perspective

The purpose of the present study is to investigate how job satisfaction influences constructive and destructive voice behaviours, as well as exit intentions, within service organisations. Grounded in Hirschman’s Exit-Voice-Loyalty (EVL) framework, the study explores the moderating role of loyalty in shaping these behavioural responses to job satisfaction. Survey data were collected from 200 employees across various service organisations, and the hypotheses were tested using a path model to examine both direct and moderated relationships. The findings reveal that job satisfaction is positively associated with constructive voice and negatively associated with both destructive voice and exit intentions. Furthermore, loyalty moderates these relationships, amplifying the positive link between job satisfaction and constructive voice while mitigating the negative associations with destructive voice and exit intentions. This study extends the EVL framework to service-based organisation by demonstrating that loyalty serves as a stabilising factor, transforming dissatisfaction into proactive behaviours that foster organisational learning and adaptation. This research offers new insights into the interplay between satisfaction, loyalty, and employee responses, addressing gaps in the literature by examining destructive voice and exit alongside constructive voice. By highlighting the role of satisfaction as a trigger for strategic individual responses, this study advances theoretical perspectives on employee behaviour in service settings. Finally, the findings provide practical implications for service organisations, emphasising the importance of fostering loyalty to harness employees’ potential for constructive contributions and mitigate the risks associated with destructive behaviours or turnover.