A social control perspective on authoritarian leadership and voice: power-related contingencies and the status mechanism

Purpose Scholars commonly explicate the negative influence of authoritarian leadership on employee voice through a tit-for-tat social exchange perspective. This research captures the controlling nature of authoritarian leadership and views inhibited voice as an “expected” controlling outcome of authoritarian leadership. Therefore, this research aims to take the social control perspective to extend the dominant social exchange perspective, explaining why and when authoritarian leadership inhibits employee voice. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave leader–employee matched survey was conducted to examine the research model, involving 423 employees and their 162 direct leaders from mainland China. Findings The results indicate that employee self-perceived status mediated the negative effect of authoritarian leadership on employee voice, which was stronger than the psychological safety mechanism. Moreover, perceived leader power and employee power distance orientation (PDO) moderated this status mechanism, such that the indirect effect was pronounced when perceived leader power or employee PDO was higher. Originality/value This study advances understanding of authoritarian leadership by highlighting its controlling rather than merely destructive nature. Specifically, we theorize and demonstrate the status mechanism as a pathway of control and identify power-related boundary conditions that amplify its effect. By contrasting status with psychological safety mechanisms, we show that the social control perspective offers a more powerful explanatory lens for the authoritarian leadership–employee voice relationship than the traditional social exchange perspective. Additionally, theorising the integrative dynamics of status and power in leader–employee interactions extends the understanding of how different dimensions of hierarchy function in tandem to influence voice generation.