Algorithmic Management and Acquiescent Silence: The Mediating Role of Perceived Voice Futility in Malaysian Manufacturing SMEs

HRMARS - Algorithmic management systems are increasingly deployed in manufacturing small and medium- enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia under the Industry 4.0 agenda, yet their behavioural consequences for workers in conventional non-platform employment settings remain theoretically unspecified. To the best of our knowledge, no prior study has examined the psychological mechanism through which algorithmic management shapes employee voice and silence behaviour outside of gig economy and platform work contexts. This paper addresses that gap by developing a conceptual framework that proposes perceived voice futility as the mediating mechanism connecting algorithmic management to acquiescent silence in conventional manufacturing workplaces. Drawing on self-determination theory and organisational silence theory, the framework argues that algorithmic management frustrates needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness of employees, generating a cognitive appraisal of futility that drives resignation-based acquiescent silence, a form of silence motivationally distinct from fear-driven defensive silence. Three formal propositions are advanced, alongside a theoretically grounded institutional argument explaining why the specific conditions of manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia like HRM informality, digital capability gaps, and technology-governance decoupling structurally amplify the proposed mechanism. Three HRM intervention pathways are also derived from the framework. This paper contributes a theoretically specified mediating mechanism in the algorithmic management and employee silence literature, and advances the conceptual framework addressing this relationship in conventional non-platform manufacturing in an emerging economy context.