“Called” to Speak Up: Employees’ Career Calling and Voice Behavior

Research on career calling has demonstrated its positive impact on work attitudes, but few studies have attempted to examine its relation with employees’ actual work behaviors. This study is the first to explore calling’s effect on employee voice behavior and two potential mediators of this relationship, felt responsibility for constructive change and employee optimism about the future. Surveys from 407 employees of a law enforcement agency in the Midwest U.S. were analyzed using logistic regression and bootstrapping method with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine support for the hypotheses’ main and mediating effects. Results indicated that individuals with a higher sense of calling were more likely to engage in promotive voice, after controlling for personality, perceptions toward work, and organizational tenure. In addition, calling was positively associated with both felt responsibility and employee optimism. Finally, felt responsibility for constructive change fully mediated the relationshi...