Abstract

This study examined the relationship between prosocial motivation and acquiescent, defensive, and relational silence behaviors, and identified the mediating effect of emotional job burnout. We also examined whether these relationships differed depending on whether the organization is currently working virtually or not. To this end, we collected 359 samples from Korean employees working in general office jobs below managerial positions using online survey methods. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and PROCESS Macro, and the results showed that the relationship between prosocial motivation and acquiescent, defensive, and relational silence behaviors was mediated by emotional job burnout, with a partial mediation effect for acquiescent silence and a full mediation effect for defensive and relational silence behaviors. Furthermore, these relationships were found to be the same regardless of whether employees worked virtually or not. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings, limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research.