Organizational Psychology Review· 2026Q1
Organizational Silence Cultures. A Conceptual Framework and Integrative Review on how They Develop, Manifest, and Persist
- 0citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A new framework proposes that organizational silence cultures develop when silence is seen as a solution to adaptation problems, manifesting through artifacts, values, and assumptions, and persisting via withholding, deafness, and censorship.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Organizational silence cultures develop when silence is deemed an effective strategy for solving adaptation problems.
- Silence manifests at three cultural layers: artifacts, shared values/norms, and implicit basic assumptions.
- Persistence of these cultures is driven by the combined actions of withholding information, employee deafness, and censorship.
- The framework identifies four distinct types of organizational silence cultures.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Organizational silence (a state in which certain issues are not addressed in an organization) prevents open discussion among employees, hampers error detection and innovation, and contributes to the endurance of inefficacy and toxic work places. Applying a cultural lens, we develop a framework for understanding the environment in which organizational silence occurs. We propose that organizational silence cultures develop if silence deems adequate to solve adaptation problems, that they manifest at three layers in the form of artifacts, shared values and norms, and implicit basic assumptions, and that they persist through the combined operation of withholding, deafness, and censorship. Using an integrative review, we examine the propositions of our framework and show its usefulness to synthesize and advance knowledge. We identified adaptive functions organizational silence fulfils and derived four organizational silence culture types, explain how they manifest at three cultural layers, and how withholding, deafness, and censorship make them persist.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Organizational Psychology Review, 2026 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting