The Effect of the Leader’s Anger-out on Organizational Members’ Silence Behavior: Focusing on the Serial Multiple Mediation Effect of Anger Rumination and State Hostility

This study empirically verifies the serial multiple mediation of anger rumination and state hostility in the relationship between the leader’s anger-out and organizational members’ silence behavior. To minimize the common method bias from the self-report survey method, the dependent variable was measured separately after a time interval. Also, trait hostility and affectivity at the workplace (positive and negative affectivity) were set as control variables to increase the objectivity in the responses of organizational members to the leader’s anger-out. 335 responses were collected from employees working at companies with more than 300 employees in various industries to be used as the data for analysis. The analysis results confirmed that the leader’s anger-out increases silence behavior when mediated consecutively by anger rumination and state hostility. That is, the serial multiple mediation of anger rumination and state hostility between the leader’s anger out and organizational members’ silence behavior was verified. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.