Investigating the relationship between superior-subordinate relationship quality and employee dissent

The purpose of this study was to examine how subordinates’ perceptions of superior-subordinate relationship quality (LMX) related to their strategies for expressing dissent. Employees from various organizations completed self-report survey instruments. Results indicated that subordinates who perceived having high-quality relationships with their supervisors reported using significantly more articulated dissent than subordinates who perceived having low-quality relationships with their supervisors. Conversely, subordinates who perceived having low-quality relationships with their supervisors reported using significantly more latent dissent than subordinates who perceived having high-quality relationships with their supervisors.