Unlocking Employee Silence through Leader Machiavellianism: The Moderated Mediated Assessment

Grounded on the social exchange theory, this study investigates the link between leader Machiavellianism and employee silence behavior by considering the employee's relational identification as a mediator and Perception of Politics as a moderator. Sampling Data was collected from Middle-tier employees of the banking sector in Pakistan through a convenient sampling technique. A sample of 315 bank officers is being selected. For testing the model, SPSS & AMOS has been used for data analysis. Preacher and Hayes methods were used for mediation analysis. The findings of this study demonstrated that leader Machiavellianism does not directly affect employee silence; rather, a strong positive link between leader Machiavellianism and employee silence has been identified through mediation. Relational Identification had an important mediating effect on leader Machiavellianism and employee silence. Furthermore, the perception of politics was discovered to be significant as a moderator, strengthening the unfavorable association between leader machiavellianism and relational identity. According to the conclusions of this study, banking officers should be more sensitive while interacting with their employees since it would build a happy work atmosphere with stronger interpersonal interactions, hence minimizing workplace silence. As a result, the banking sector must implement effective strategies to help bank managers deal with the Perception of Politics among workers at work.