Designing an Adaptive Model for Analyzing Antecedents and Consequences of Organizational Silence in the Supreme Audit Court: A Case Study of Six Regions

Abstract

In recent years, due to changes in organizations and their environments, the importance of human resources has increased, bringing attention to the phenomenon of organizational silence. This study aims to design an adaptive model for analyzing the antecedents and consequences of organizational silence in the Supreme Audit Court. The research methodology is applied in terms of its objective and mixed in terms of data collection, with a qualitative phenomenological method in the first part and a quantitative descriptive-survey in the second. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants and experts to identify the antecedents and consequences of organizational silence. Upstream documents and existing written records were analyzed, and the literature was extensively reviewed. Data on components and indicators were collected through interviews until theoretical saturation was reached, after which concepts were extracted, categorized, and interrelationships were identified. A researcher-made questionnaire was then developed based on these findings and tested on the statistical sample. The qualitative sample included managers and deputies of the six regional offices, with 40 individuals purposefully selected, achieving theoretical saturation after interviewing 31. Additionally, national and international scientific documents, books, reports, and articles were reviewed. The quantitative sample consisted of 1,000 employees from the six regional offices, with 278 randomly selected using Cochran's formula. Data analysis in the qualitative phase employed the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen technique, while SPSS and Smart-PLS software were used for quantitative data analysis. In the qualitative part, 110 key codes were identified for antecedents, condensed into 32 formulated meanings conceptualized into organizational and managerial factors. For consequences, 92 codes were condensed into 34 meanings categorized as individual and social factors. One-way ANOVA results indicated no significant difference in organizational silence among groups. Factor analysis results showed that the measurement scale for all indicators was satisfactory, confirming the measurement tool's quality. Factor loadings, all ≥0.4, indicated acceptable reliability, with construct variance exceeding measurement error variance, ensuring the model's reliability.