DOES HAVING A SAY MATTER ONLY IF YOU GET YOUR WAY - INSTRUMENTAL AND VALUE-EXPRESSIVE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE VOICE

Research shows that employees can have process control, decision contr ol, or both, over work outcomes. Process control refers to the extent to which workers have a chance to express their opinions about decisio ns. Decision control refers to any actual degree of influence over the decision that is made. Both variables have been shown to affect proce dural justice, a sense of fairness about how things are done at work, and eventual outcome satisfaction. Some claim that process control has its effect because it contributes to workers' feelings of control ove r the decision or outcome-the instrumentality perspective. Others clai m that process control has an independent effect on procedural justice that is not mediated by perceptions of decision control-the value-exp ressive approach. These theorists believe that workers value having th eir opinion heard, independent of any increase in decision control. We present a study that examines these models in a work setting. Structu ral equation analyses revealed that process control did have a signifi cant direct effect on procedural justice: having a say is not complete ly dependent on getting one's way. Process control also had a smaller, but still significant, indirect effect on procedural justice that was mediated by decision control. Congruence with prior research and futu re research implications are discussed.