Guest Editors:
Simon Fietze, University of Southern Denmark
Sylvia Rohlfer, Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros (CUNEF), Spain
Wenzel Matiaske, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany

Seminar at the IUC Dubrovnik (April 20-24, 2020) & Special Issue

Over the past four decades, scholars from employment relations, human resource management, organizational behaviour and labour economics have published a vast body of literature concerning employee voice (Wilkinson & Fay, 2011). Employee voice is thereby understood as the opportunity to participate in organizational decision-making and to have a say to influence the own work and the interests of managers and owners (Barry &Wilkinson, 2016) or – in the case of employee silence – to withhold these views and concerns (Morrison & Milliken, 2003). Employee voice and silence have been linked to organizational performance and the development of competitive advantage (Barry & Wilkinson, 2016) and are a key ingredient for the positive relationship between strategic human resource management and organizational performance (Wood & Wall, 2007) which also implies a link between employee voice and innovation. Employees with the opportunity to communicate individual ideas to management and to participate in decision-making give them the possibility to express ‘creative ideas and new perspectives, increasing the likelihood of innovation’ (Grant, 2013, p. 1703; Zhou & George, 2001).

Recently, scholars are paying more attention to current topics and relate them to employee voice. One stream of research is addressing the advancing technologies and consider the digital revolution and its impact on employee voice. There is no doubt that digital technology is fundamentality changing the way we do business (Mennie, 2015) and in consequence forms, tools and channels ‘voice’. The few studies on employee voice and digitalization are mainly dealing with social media at work and its opportunities for management to get in dialogue with employees. Holland, Cooper, and Hecker (2019), for instance, discuss conceptually issues and opportunities social media provides in the development of employee voice. In a similar vein, Barnes, Balnave, Thornthwaite, and Manning (2019) show how a union’s use of social media might facilitate greater member participation and engagement. However, more empirical evidence and conceptual considerations are needed to better understand and explain digitalization and employee voice (or: ‘e-voice’).

Therefore, the purpose of this seminar and the aim of the special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies is to focus on digitalization at work and its challenges and opportunities for employee voice and silence in cross-disciplinary discussions. Some context to discuss are listed below:

• To what extent do technologies impact employee voice and silence?
• To what extent do employees make use of technology to ‘raise their voice’?
• What role do trade unions play when it comes to electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice?
• What is the impact of electronic (e.g., social media) voice on traditional mechanisms of employee voice?
• What is the effectiveness of electronic (e.g., social media) voice? How does it compare to the outcomes of traditional mechanisms?
• Why do electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice systems fail?
• What is the ‘dark side’ of electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice/silence?

Deadline
Potential contributors to the seminar at the IUC Dubrovnik are encouraged to submit an abstract of five pages before January 31st, 2020 electronically via the online submission system of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies using ‘IUC Dubrovnik’ as article section: http://www.mrev.nomos.de/guidelines/submit-manuscript/

Special Issue
All contributors to the seminar are invited to submit their paper for the special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies. Full papers for this special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies must be submitted by August 30th, 2020. All contributions will be subject to double-blind review. Papers invited to a ‘revise and resubmit’ are due February 28th, 2021. The publication is scheduled for issue 1/2022. Please submit your papers electronically via the online submission system at http://www.mrev.nomos.de/ using ‘SI Employee Voice’ as article section.

Submission Guidelines
Manuscript length should not exceed 8,000 words (excluding references) and the norm should be 30 pages in double-spaced type with margins of about 3 cm (1 inch) on each side of the page. Further, please follow the guidelines on the journal’s website (http://www.mrev.nomos.de/guidelines/).

Hoping to hear from you!
Simon Fietze
Sylvia Rohlfer
Wenzel Matiaske

References
Barnes, A., Balnave, N., Thornthwaite, L., & Manning, B. (2019). Social media: Union communication and member voice. In P. Holland, J. Teicher, & J. Donaghey (Eds.), Employee voice at work (pp. 91–111). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2820-6_5
Barry, M., & Wilkinson, A. (2016). Pro-social or pro-management? A critique of the conception of employee voice as a pro-social behaviour within organizational behaviour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(2), 261–284. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12114
Grant, A. M. (2013). Rocking the boat but keeping it steady: The role of emotion regulation in employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1703–1723. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0035
Holland, P., Cooper, B., & Hecker, R. (2019). Social media at work: A new form of employee voice? In P. Holland, J. Teicher, & J. Donaghey (Eds.), Employee voice at work (pp. 73–89). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2820-6_4
Mennie, P. (2015). Social media risk and governance: Managing enterprise risk. London: Kogan Page.
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706–725. https://doi.org/10.2307/259200
Wilkinson, A., & Fay, C. (2011). New times for employee voice? Human Resource Management, 50(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20411
Wood, S. J., & Wall, T. D. (2007). Work enrichment and employee voice in human resource management-performance studies. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(7), 1335–1372. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190701394150
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. (2001). When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: Encouraging the expression of voice. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 682–696. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069410

Guest Editors:
Sven Hauff, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg
Daniela Rastetter, University of Hamburg

Special Issue
The changing context of work – e.g. though globalisation, intensification of competition, deregulation, growth in employment flexibility, technological changes, digitalization – increasingly triggers debates about the quality of working life and concerns about the well-being of employees. Observations of precarious forms of employment or increasing demands and intensification of work thereby often elicit nostalgic memories of the apparently ‘good old days’ where work was characterized by full-time employment, an adequate income, a permanent contract, and social insurance. However, these ‘old’ standards of ‘good work’ did not apply to all employees and even in the ‘good old days’, work was often characterized by strict hierarchy and low influence, where employees’ interests were largely neglected. Here, modern forms of employment could lead to improvements by providing, for example, more autonomy, involvement, flexible working hours, a better work life balance, and inclusion.

The question of how to evaluate the changes in the world of work is not easy and there are manifold perspectives how to define the standards of ‘good work’. One perspective could be to identify the work and employment conditions that are actually increasing or threatening employee well-being. A particular challenge here is to consider the different dimensions of employee well-being, which includes aspects like physical and mental health, satisfaction, engagement or fairness. Another perspective could be to confront the new developments to the aspirations and values of employees. The latter are also changing since new generations enter the labour market, since women increasingly participate in the labour force, or because migration movements lead to an increasing diversity. Finally, one could contrast the changes with the current regulations in labour and social law concerning employee protection rights, working time and wage standards, social security, and representation of employees’ interests.

In this Special Issue we want to bring together research that addresses the issue of eroding and new standards of ‘good work’ and we encourage researchers to share their thoughts with us. Contributions should address one or more of the following questions:

• Which standards of good work erode or fade, evolve or change?
• What are the driving forces behind these changing standards?
• What influence do digitalisation and globalisation have on the standards of good work?
• What standards of work are emerging in new forms of organisation such as crowd work platforms?
• How do individual standards of good work – such as working hours, wages, health and safety, co-determination, trade union representation, or equal opportunities – develop?
• How can new forms of HRM or business strategies like diversity management support standards of good work?
• What effects do this change in the standards of good work have on workers and their ability to work and perform?
• Are standards of good work developing in new fields, for example on the question of religious practice, spirituality and the search for meaning in the workplace?
• What are the effects for companies and businesses? Which strategies do companies and businesses choose when dealing with new standards, or which strategies lead to new standards?

Deadline
Full papers for this special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies must be submitted by December 30, 2019. All contributions will be subject to double-blind review. Papers invited to a “revise and resubmit” are due June 31, 2020. The publication is scheduled for issue 2/2021. Please submit your papers electronically via the online submission system at http://www.mrev.nomos.de/ using “SI Standards of Good Work” as article section.

Submission Guidelines
Manuscript length should not exceed 8,000 words (excluding references) and the norm should be 30 pages in double-spaced type with margins of about 3 cm (1 inch) on each side of the page. Further, please follow the guidelines on the journal’s website (http://www.mrev.nomos.de/guidelines/).

Hoping to hear from you!
Sven Hauff
Daniela Rastetter