Amplifying voice in crisis: examining the role of social support on civil servants’ voice behavior through a moderated mediation model

Voice behavior-civil servants’ speaking up with ideas, concerns, and suggestions-is pivotal for public organizations’ adaptive capacity and service performance during crises, strengthening organizational learning and responsive policy implementation under uncertainty, yet the mechanisms enabling civil servants to voice under extreme demands remain underexplored. Drawing on Job Demands-Resources theory, this study examined how social support fostered Chinese civil servants’ voice behavior during the pandemic through public service motivation (PSM) and how work stress shaped this effect. Survey data collected from Shandong were analyzed through structural equation modeling, Bootstrap tests and Sobel tests. Findings indicate that social support exerts a positive influence on voice behavior and increases voice by strengthening PSM. Work stress weakens the conversion of PSM into voice, while additional analyses indicate that moderate stress can activate motivated speaking up, whereas high stress suppresses it. The study also detects spatial heterogeneity between urban districts and rural counties, suggesting that administrative context conditions the effectiveness of supportive ties. This research contributes to clarify the motivational channel through which social support ties correspond to voice behavior among local civil servants, and highlight actionable levers for public managers-strengthening relational and organizational support while monitoring stress-to sustain constructive input and organizational resilience.