Drawing on the social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and employee’s quiescent silence. Specifically, the authors take a relational approach by introducing employee’s relational identification as the mediator. The moderating role of psychological distance in the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is also considered.,Data were collected from nine universities in Turkey. The sample included 793 randomly chosen faculty members along with their department chairs. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the proposed model.,The results of this study supported the positive effect of leader Machiavellianism on employee’s quiescent silence as well as the mediating effect of employee’s relational identification. Moreover, when the level of psychological distance is low, the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is strong, whereas the effect is weak when the level of psychological distance is high.,The findings of this study suggest that educational administrators in the higher education should be sensitive in treating their subordinates, as it will lead to positive interpersonal relationship, which, in turn, will reduce workplace silence. Moreover, they should pay more attention to the buffering role of psychological distance for those subordinates with high distrust and showing silence.,This study contributes to the literature on organizational silence by revealing the relational mechanism between leader Machiavellianism and employee quiescent silence. The paper also offers a practical assistance to employees in the higher education and their leaders interested in building trust, increasing leader–employee relationship and reducing workplace silence.

中文翻译：

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领导者马基雅维利主义和追随者的沉默

本文基于社会交换理论，旨在探讨领导者马基雅维利主义与员工静态沉默之间的关系。具体来说，作者通过引入员工的关系认同作为调解人，采取了一种关系方法。还考虑了心理距离在领导者马基雅维利主义与静态沉默之间的关系中的调节作用。数据来自土耳其的九所大学。样本包括793名随机选择的教职员工及其系主任。进行了层次多元回归分析，验证了所提模型的有效性。本研究结果支持了领导者马基雅维利主义对员工沉默的积极作用以及员工关系认同的中介作用。此外，当心理距离水平较低时，领导者马基雅维利主义与静态沉默之间的关系较强；而当心理距离水平较高时，其效果较弱。在对待下属时保持敏感，因为这将导致积极的人际关系，从而减少工作场所的沉默。此外，他们还应更加重视心理距离对那些高度不信任并表现出沉默的下属的缓冲作用。本研究通过揭示领导者马基雅维利主义与员工静态沉默之间的关系机制，为有关组织沉默的文献做出了贡献。