(The Effect of Organizational Silence on Happiness in the Workplace: The Role of Hopelessness as a Psycho-Social Lack of Individual Resources)

Abstract

Purpose – In this study, the mediator role of the sense of hopelessness as a psycho-social resource absence in the effect of organizational silence on the happiness of employees at workplace is examined. As a result of the literature research, it is thought that the silence that occurs at the organizational level may affect the happiness of the employees at the workplace. In addition, it is assumed that hopelessness may have a role as a mediating variable in the effect of organizational silence on happiness at workplace. Design/Method/Approach – The research was carried out on 402 white-collar individuals working in the service sectors (education, health, marketing and banking) in the province of Istanbul. Simple linear regression and the Hayes Process macro extension were used to test the hypotheses in the research, in which the convenience sampling method was used, and the data were tested with the Statistics Package Developed for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22). Results – The findings (N=402) show that there is a significant relationship between organizational silence and happiness of employees at workplace, hopelessness (β =-,406; LLCI=-.4905 ve ULCI=-.3205; β = .304; LLCI= -.3812 ve ULCI= -.2282, respectively). However, it has been determined that there is a significant relationship between organizational silence and the sense of hopelessness, and it has been observed that hopelessness, which has a mediating role in this relationship, directly affects the relationship between organizational silence and happiness at workplace (β = -,223; LLCI =-,2873; ULCI = -,1600). Discussion – With this study, it was thought that organizational silence might have an effect on the positive emotional states of employees, such as happiness at workplace. Considering the importance of feeling happy during their staying time at work, especially for employees who spend at least one third of the day at their workplace, the starting point of this research is that the obligation to remain silent can be an important obstacle to being happy and reduce the motivation for happiness. At the same time, it was thought that silence would lead to exhaustion in the sources of hope and the level of happiness would decrease with the decrease of hope. In this study, the relationship between organizational silence and sense of hopelessness as antecedents of happiness at work has been determined and it has been tried to contribute to the literature on happiness at workplace. Although the study focused on the individual results of organizational silence, when evaluated together with the studies in the literature, it is seen that silence brings many negative situations in organizational terms. For this reason, it is important to establish an environment based on communication within the organization in order to minimize the negative effects caused by silence.