Investigating the roles of remedial voice and perceived perpetrator power on targets’ enacted workplace interpersonal deviance: The mediating role of targets’ rumination

This study investigates how remedial voice relates to targets’ workplace interpersonal deviance. Drawing from research on the social sharing of emotional experiences and from goal progress theory, we conceptualize remedial voice as the social sharing about a negative emotional experience that can initiate targets’ rumination. We further posit that an interaction between remedial voice and perceived perpetrator power will be associated with heightened rumination. Furthermore, applying ego depletion theory, we propose that targets’ heightened rumination will be positively associated with their workplace interpersonal deviance. We found remedial voice to be positively related to targets’ rumination. Furthermore, perceived perpetrator power interacted with remedial voice to predict targets’ high rumination, which was associated with targets’ workplace interpersonal deviance. Our findings suggest that remedial voicing is linked to both proximal and distal outcomes for targets, extending research by highlighting its potentially far-reaching consequences. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.