Identification of Factors Influencing Organizational Silence and Its Impact on Managerial Decision-Making

The present study aims to identify the factors influencing organizational silence and its impact on managerial decision-making.

This applied research was conducted using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach. The identification of factors was carried out qualitatively using the thematic analysis method. Participants in this stage included academic faculty members and executive experts from Bank Mellat, whose perspectives were gathered through semi-structured interviews. To validate the identified factors in the quantitative stage, the structural equation modeling (confirmatory factor analysis) method was used. For this purpose, a questionnaire based on the identified factors was designed and purposively distributed among the central managers of Bank Mellat to evaluate the relationships between the indicators and categories. The quantitative data were analyzed using Smart PLS version 3 software.

The findings revealed that the factors influencing organizational silence include individual factors (tendencies and interests, concerns and anxieties, motivations, personal traits, and characteristics), interpersonal factors (communication factors), organizational factors (job-related factors, organizational culture, managerial factors, structural factors), and extra-organizational factors (social, cultural, and economic factors). These factors affect the quality of managerial decision-making, including (accuracy, precision, timeliness, efficiency, reliability, and follow-up of decision-making). The quantitative analyses also confirmed the significance of the relationships between the indicators and the targeted components.

The results of this study can provide useful insights into managing the phenomenon of organizational silence. Simultaneous identification of the factors influencing the occurrence of organizational silence across the four aforementioned levels, as well as the consequences that this phenomenon can have on the quality of managerial decision-making, can offer effective insights for managing this destructive organizational behavior.