- Titel
- Breaking the Silence With Emotions: Emotional Resources as a Buffer Against Silence in the Workplace
- Zitierfähige Url:
- https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-1061945
- Erstveröffentlichung
- 2026
- Datum der Einreichung
- 29.05.2026
- Datum der Verteidigung
- 22.07.2026
- Abstract (EN)
- This dissertation conceptualizes silence in the workplace as an emotionally embedded and resource-sensitive phenomenon. Across three preregistered studies, it examines whether emotional resources help explain why employees withhold work-relevant concerns and whether these resources can be strengthened through targeted intervention. The dissertation is grounded in job demands–resources (JD–R) theory and research on emotions in organizations. On this basis, it develops a multilevel account of silence centered on emotional resources and examines whether such behavior can be reduced through intervention. The research program comprises a meta-analysis, a field evaluation of a web-based authenticity training, and an experimental evaluation of the training in a scenario-based randomized team experiment. Together, the studies address conceptual and empirical gaps in research on emotional resources, authenticity, silence in the workplace, and intervention-oriented occupational health psychology. A central assumption is that silence emerges within emotionally consequential work episodes. These episodes constitute emotional job demands that elicit appraisals and discrete emotions. Whether they culminate in acquiescent (resignation-based) silence, quiescent (fear-based) silence, or more constructive responding depends on emotional resources available at the individual, leader, team, and organizational levels. Authenticity-related functioning is considered especially promising because it combines accurate access to internal emotional cues, flexible regulation, and congruent yet context-sensitive expression. Study 1 established the broad empirical foundation through a meta-analysis of correlational evidence on emotional resources and silence in the workplace. Across k = 84 independent effects (N = 43,495), higher emotional resources were associated with lower levels of silence, r = −.26. This negative association emerged across employee, team, leader, and organizational levels. Effect magnitudes differed by motive: The strongest association emerged for acquiescent silence (r = −.38), followed by quiescent silence (r = −.28). Prosocial and opportunistic silence were not reliably related to emotional resources. Emotional resources therefore appear particularly relevant to forms rooted in resignation and threat. Study 2 shifted from correlational evidence to intervention by evaluating the web-based training Working Authentically in nursing during the COVID-19 period. Employees and leaders (N = 42) completed a five-week digital curriculum comprising five one-hour learning units in role-specific versions. Using a four-level evaluation framework, the training showed favorable reactions through high satisfaction, learning through increased authenticity-related knowledge, behavior change through increased authentic work behavior, and results-level change through reductions in acquiescent silence and emotional exhaustion. Quiescent silence did not change reliably. In this chronically demanding context, the findings support the feasibility of scalable online resource building and suggest that authenticity-centered intervention may be particularly suitable for reducing acquiescent silence. Study 3 strengthened causal and multilevel inference through a scenario-based cluster-randomized team experiment. University students assigned to employee and leader roles (N = 85, k = 19 teams) completed a pretest including a standardized simulated team meeting, received either the intervention Working Authentically or a recovery-focused active control training, and then completed a parallel posttest meeting. A confederate created standardized emotionally demanding situations across teams. The expected condition × time interactions did not reach statistical significance. Nevertheless, several findings were consistent with the intervention logic, particularly for emotion regulation flexibility, authentically expressed emotions, psychological safety during the meeting, and lower meeting-related acquiescent silence. The study therefore provides preliminary indications that authenticity-based resource building may alter proximal emotional and interactional processes in demanding episodes. At the same time, the more controlled design produced a conservative and less consistent pattern that requires replication with larger, adequately powered samples. Taken together, the studies extend theoretical and empirical understanding of silence in several ways. First, they demonstrate that emotional resources are meaningfully associated with lower levels of silence across multiple levels, thereby extending the health-impairment logic of the JD–R model to acquiescent and quiescent silence as affectively embedded organizational responses. Second, they identify authenticity-focused online training as a promising intervention strategy, with the clearest indications emerging for proximal emotion-related processes and acquiescent silence. Third, the absence of reliable change in quiescent silence suggests that fear-based withholding may be embedded in a more deeply ingrained fear network and may therefore be less malleable, potentially requiring more intensive intervention formats. Overall, the dissertation supports the conclusion that silence in emotionally demanding work contexts is shaped by emotional resources across several levels of analysis and may be addressed through deliberate resource building. Authenticity-related functioning emerges as a particularly relevant subset of these resources because it supports accurate emotional access, flexible regulation, and congruent expression.
- Freie Schlagwörter (EN)
- employee silence, emotional resources, training evaluation
- Klassifikation (DDC)
- 150
- Klassifikation (RVK)
- CW 2000
- CP 3000
- CU 7500
- GutachterIn
- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wegge
- Dr. Johannes Wendsche
- BetreuerIn Hochschule / Universität
- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wegge
- Dr. Denise Dörfel
- Den akademischen Grad verleihende / prüfende Institution
- Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden
- Förder- / Projektangaben
- AOK PLUS – Die Gesundheitskasse für Sachsen und Thüringen Maßnahmen zur Förderung der seelischen Gesundheit in der Pflege – Teilprojekt Emotionale Kompetenzen
(PENELOPE-EK) - Version / Begutachtungsstatus
- publizierte Version / Verlagsversion
- URN Qucosa
- urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-1061945
- Veröffentlichungsdatum Qucosa
- 28.07.2026
- Dokumenttyp
- Dissertation
- Sprache des Dokumentes
- Englisch
- Lizenz / Rechtehinweis
CC BY-SA 4.0- Inhaltsverzeichnis
1 Statements 2 1.1 Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Financial Support and Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 Overview of Study Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.4 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Abstract 14 3 Introduction 17 4 Theoretical Background 21 4.1 The Job Demands–Resources Model: Core Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 4.2 Emotional Job Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 4.3 Emotional Strain in the Work Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4.4 Organizational Outcomes Influenced by Emotional Strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 4.5 The Role of Silence in the Emotion-Focused Health-Impairment Process . . . . . . 27 4.5.1 Definitions and Typologies of Silence in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . 28 4.5.2 Consequences of Silence for Individuals, Teams, and Organizations . . . . 30 4.5.3 Inter- and Intrapsychological Development and Maintenance of Silence in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4.6 The Role of Emotional Resources in the Emotion-Focused Health-Impairment Process 35 4.6.1 Emotions in Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 4.6.2 Personal and Job Emotional Resources as Matching Buffers . . . . . . . . 37 4.6.3 Emotion Regulation Theories and Process Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4.6.4 Training Programs as Resource-Building Interventions in Organizations . . 42 4.6.5 The Authenticity-Based Emotion Regulation Training in This Dissertation . 46 4.7 An Integrative JD–R-Based Framework for Emotion Regulation, Silence, and Emotional Exhaustion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 5 Research Questions and Overview of the Research Program 58 6 Study 1: Breaking the Silence With Emotional Resources: A Meta-Analysis 62 6.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 6.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 6.3 Theoretical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 6.3.1 Emotional Resources as Influencing Factors of Silence in the Workplace . . 66 6.3.2 Levels for Influencing Emotional Resources and Silence in the Workplace . 68 6.4 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.4.1 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria and Search Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.4.2 Screening and Study Selection Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 6.4.3 Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 6.4.4 Coding of Focal Constructs and Moderators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 6.4.5 Method of Critical Appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 6.4.6 Strategy for Statistical Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 6.4.7 Treatment of Missing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 6.4.8 Method of Robustness Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 6.5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 6.5.1 Descriptive Overview of the Included Primary Studies . . . . . . . . . . . 79 6.5.2 Overall Effect of Emotional Resources on Silence in the Workplace . . . . 89 6.5.3 Level of Analysis and Emotional Resource Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 6.5.4 Moderator Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 6.5.5 Assessment of Publication Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 6.6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 6.6.1 Theoretical Implications for JD-R and Silence Research . . . . . . . . . . . 108 6.6.2 Practical Implications for Resource-Building Interventions . . . . . . . . . 110 6.6.3 Limitations and Directions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 6.6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 7 Study 2: Breaking the Silence in Nursing: Field Evaluation of a Digital Training for Improving Emotional Resources 117 7.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 7.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 7.3 Theoretical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 7.3.1 Emotional Demands in Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 7.3.2 Emotional Labor and Authenticity in Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 7.3.3 Silence in Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 7.3.4 Emotional Exhaustion and Health Outcomes in Nursing . . . . . . . . . . . 127 7.3.5 Existing Training Programs for Emotional Resources in Nursing and the Need for Authenticity-Based Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 7.4 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 7.4.1 Study Design and Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 7.4.2 Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 7.4.3 Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 7.4.4 Analytic Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 7.5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 7.5.1 Tests of Primary Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 7.5.2 Exploratory Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 7.6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 7.6.1 Theoretical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 7.6.2 Practical Implications for Training in Healthcare Settings . . . . . . . . . . 156 7.6.3 Limitations and Directions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 7.6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 8 Study 3: Breaking the Silence in Work Episodes: A Scenario-Based Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating a Digital Training for Improving Emotional Resources 162 8.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 8.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 8.3 Theoretical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 8.3.1 Authenticity-Based Emotion Regulation as a Personal Resource . . . . . . 166 8.3.2 Leadership and Team Resources in the JD-R Framework . . . . . . . . . . 169 8.3.3 Scenario-Based Team Experiments as a Method to Assess Silence and Emotion Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 8.3.4 Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 8.4 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 8.4.1 Study Design and Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 8.4.2 Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 8.4.3 Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 8.4.4 Analytic Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 8.4.5 Data Screening and Exclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 8.5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 8.5.1 Manipulation Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 8.5.2 Tests of Primary Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 8.5.3 Exploratory Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 8.6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 8.6.1 Theoretical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 8.6.2 Practical Implications for Designing Authenticity-Based Trainings . . . . . 221 8.6.3 Limitations and Directions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 8.6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 9 General Discussion 228 9.1 Integrative Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 9.1.1 Contribution to the JD–R Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 9.1.2 The Role of Silence Motives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 9.1.3 The Role of Sociodemographic Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 9.1.4 Practical Implications Across Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 9.2 Critical Appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 9.2.1 Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 9.2.2 Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 9.3 Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 9.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 10 References 250 11 Appendix 294 11.1 Training Impressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 11.2 Study 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 11.2.1 Extracted Variables for Meta-Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 11.2.2 Formula Applied for Missing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 11.3 Study 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4 Needs Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.1 Codebook and Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.2 Participant Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.3 Data Protection Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.4 Training Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.5 Recruitment Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.4.6 Certificate of Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 11.5 Study 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 11.5.1 Codebook, Training Material, and Experimental Materials . . . . . . . . . 308