Antecedents and consequences of self-censorship of employees in Public Organizations

IntroductionHuman resources in organizations, by sharing their knowledge, attitude, ideas and experiences, are the most essential factors in moving the cycles of the organization, the expertise and capabilities of human resources can make organizations flexible. Make it acceptable and realize strategic goals in challenging conditions (Dudokh, 2020). Knowledge sharing is a behavior in which a person voluntarily provides his knowledge, expertise and experiences to other actors inside and outside the organization (Hosseinpour, Qurbani and Vishalghi, 2018). Thus, self-censorship is a phenomenon that hinders the transfer and sharing of knowledge (Hamari et al., 2017). Self-censorship of employees is a deliberate and voluntary action that employees refrain from disclosing when they have information, and it increases the tendency of employees to provide false information (Bartel, 2017).Organizational self-censorship is a dangerous obstacle for organizational change and transformation and hinders the development of pluralistic organizations. Self-censorship in organizations can have harmful effects on the decision-making and change process (Hamari et al., 2017). The issue of organizational self-censorship and efforts to solve it are very important and require the serious attention of managers of organizations. This phenomenon can be effective in learning and discovering errors, reduce organizational effectiveness and cause pessimism and dissatisfaction among employees, so it is necessary to address this important issue.Also, due to the existence of a theoretical gap in the field of self-censorship, it is necessary to carry out research in this field and solve this existing theoretical gap. Considering the scope of the research problem and the need to use strategies to counter self-censorship, this research aims to identify and explain the antecedents and consequences of self-censorship of employees in Urmia government organizations. Research MethodsThe current research is in the field of combined and inductive-comparative research, in such a way that it is done qualitatively-quantitatively. The purpose of this research is applied and descriptive-survey. Due to the fact that the current research is a hybrid one, the tools and methods used in the qualitative and quantitative sections are expressed separately. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative part consists of management and psychology professors. In this regard, using the purposeful sampling method, 16 professors were selected as samples. The sample size was determined using the principle of theoretical saturation in such a way that the interview process ended with the sixteenth participant. The tool for collecting information in the qualitative part of the research is a semi-structured interview, the validity and reliability of which were confirmed using the CVR coefficient and the Kappa-Cohen test, respectively. The statistical population of the research in the quantitative part is the middle and senior managers of Urmia government organizations, which was determined using the non-probability sampling method with a sample size of 32 people. In the quantitative part of the research, a pairwise comparison questionnaire was used, whose reliability was confirmed by retesting and its validity by content validity. In the fuzzy Delphi approach, questionnaires are distributed and collected in two stages and at different times. Therefore, based on the average difference of de-fuzzification and compatibility rate, reliability can be checked. If the difference of the de-fuzzified average is less than 0.1, it can be said that the questionnaire has the necessary reliability, and according to the result of the de-fuzzified average in two stages, it can be said that the questionnaire has the necessary reliability.ResultsBased on the results of the antecedents and factors affecting the self-censorship of employees in government organizations, organizational climate, maintaining the current position, fear of losing the job position, low job motivation, organizational structure based on bureaucracy, common perceptions, prioritizing individual interests, time monopolies, Weakness in effective communication, lack of effective cooperation, protection of the reputation and identity of the organization, compatibility with values and norms, harmony with the crowd, expediency of employees, lack of responsibility, lack of security. The results containing the identification of the consequences of self-censorship of employees show that the decrease in enthusiasm of employees, increase in stress, decrease in happiness in the organization, decrease in individual performance and efficiency, decrease in organizational agility, decrease in organizational productivity, employee dissatisfaction, job burnout, The difference in human resources hinders entrepreneurship in the organization, ineffective decisions, increases the desire to leave the service, hinders development and transformation, reduces trust in the organization, reduces timely reactions, and lacks learning. Also, the findings of the research show that the organizational atmosphere, fear of losing job position, conformity with the crowd, lack of security, expediency of employees and maintaining the current position are among the most important antecedents and factors affecting self-censorship of employees in organizations. They are government. In addition to this, factors such as lack of organizational changes, increased stress, reduced organizational productivity, reduced organizational agility, reduced individual performance and efficiency, and increased desire to leave the service of employees are among the most important consequences or consequences of self-censorship of employees in government organizations. ConclusionDutiful and authoritarian organizational atmosphere is the most important factor that creates self-censorship of employees. Spreading the culture of knowledge sharing and increasing employee participation, which is basically not a process that can be realized all at once, can lead to increasing the participation of human resources and knowledge sharing among employees. Therefore, it is necessary to spread and strengthen the culture of participation and knowledge sharing in organizations in order to become the basis for increasing creativity in the organization. By organizing brainstorming sessions, organizations challenge employees and increase participation and interactions between work groups, which leads to innovation and creativity, all of which lead to increased organizational learning, increased courage and boldness of employees in stating the truth and adopting Strategies to prevent self-censorship will be provided to employees.