No News Is Not Good News: The Mediating Role of Job Frustration in the Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Silence

Building on the affective event theory, we investigate the mediating role of job frustration in the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and employee silence. We suggest that job frustration induced by POP leads employees to become more passive in organizational participation, reflected in increased employee silence. Results from data collected from 459 employees of an Iranian organization indicate that POP has both a direct and an indirect effect on various employee silence motives. The study extends prior research by examining an affective mechanism linking POP to employee silence. The results suggest that frustration may be expressed silently in politicized work environments. The study attests to the need to explore the role of context-relevant discrete emotion in organizational phenomena. It also points to the need for organizational leaders to identify the emotional undercurrent of employee silence and to reduce negative politics in organizations.