Paradoxical leadership and employee voice: Superior–subordinate relationships and psychological safety as chain mediators

Employee voice behavior is a pivotal determinant in fostering organizational innovation and driving improvement. Leaders, who assume the role of custodians of organizational resources and are the key recipients of employee feedback, exert a substantial influence on this behavior. We constructed a chain mediation model from the dual perspectives of superior–subordinate relationships and psychological safety to explain the influence of paradoxical leadership on employee voice behavior, using data from 597 Chinese employees. The results demonstrated that paradoxical leadership had a significant positive effect on employee voice, and superior–subordinate relationships and psychological safety had both independent and chain mediating effects on this relationship. These findings provide empirical evidence for understanding how paradoxical leadership influences employee voice and offer practical insights for breaking employee silence and motivating voice behavior.