Transformational Leadership in Advancing Proactive Voice Behavior and Reducing Organizational Silence: The Mediating Role of Trust in Leadership

This study investigates how transformational leadership (TL) stimulates proactive voice behaviour (PVB) and curbs organisational silence (OS) in Sukkur Municipal Corporation, and whether trust in leadership (TiL) mediates these relationships. Data were collected via proportionate stratified sampling from 225 municipal employees across four directorates. Validated instruments measured TL, TiL, PVB and OS on five-point Likert scales. The research model was tested with SmartPLS 4, following a two-step procedure: (1) assessment of reliability, convergent and discriminant validity; (2) bootstrapped structural modelling (5,000 resamples). TL exerted a positive direct impact on PVB (β = 0.47, p < 0.001) and a negative direct impact on OS (β = –0.38, p < 0.001). TL also strongly predicted TiL (β = 0.59), which in turn enhanced PVB (β = 0.29) and reduced OS (β = –0.25). Significant indirect effects (TL → TiL → PVB: β = 0.17; TL → TiL → OS: β = –0.15) confirmed partial mediation. The model explained 46 per cent of variance in voice and 38 per cent in silence. Investing in transformational-leadership training and trust-building initiatives (e.g. open forums, transparent decision processes) can unlock frontline insights and reduce information withholding, thereby enhancing municipal responsiveness. This paper extends voice–silence research to a South-Asian local-government context and empirically demonstrates trust in leadership as a mechanism through which transformational leaders influence upward communication behaviours in resource-constrained public organisations.