Examining the effect of organizational silence on social loafing of employees (Case study: Tehran Municipality’s employees)

Social loafing is a phenomenon investigated since 1913. Although this phenomenon has been studied for so long, recent technological advances have provided a great opportunity for further study. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of organizational silence on organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and social loafing. The present research is descriptive-survey method. The statistical population is the employees of Tehran municipality. Sample collection was based on a convenience sampling approach. In sum, a total of 260 employees was collected and analyzed. A tool for measuring variables was a validated and reliable questionnaire. To analyze data, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling have been used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that submissive silence and affiliation silence have significant effects on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Defensive silence has a significant effect on organizational commitment. Organizational commitment has a significant effect on citizenship behavior and social loafing. Finally, citizenship behavior has a significant effect on employee’s social loafing.