The influence of employee behavior on leader identity is understudied, and most empirical studies focus mainly on leadership development interventions. This dissertation widens the scope and explores the influence of employee voice on leader identity in culturally-diverse work environments. This research adopts a weekly diary study design and uses multilevel modeling to examine the dynamic influence of employee voice on leader identity. A stratified random sample of participants was nominated by three Saudi companies to participate in this fourweek study. The analysis is performed on a univariate (long) format dataset suitable
for multi-level modeling containing N = 196 complete level 1 (within-person) observations nested within 49 level 2 dyads. Leader identity fluctuates over time when experiencing employee voice. The direct effect of prohibitive voice on leader identity is negative and significant, while the relationship between promotive voice and leader identity is insignificant. The results also indicate that leaders’ cultural intelligence moderates these relationships. The findings signify that leader identity is a malleable construct that fluctuates on shorter intervals, confirming that the identity verification process is constantly active to verify the identity as long as it
exists as part of the self-concept. The modern workplace requires companies to invest in leaders’ intrapersonal and cross-cultural skills. Training leaders to perceive and deal with employee voice and utilize cross-cultural skills effectively might enable leaders to perceive employee voice as a resource instead of a threat. This study contributes to the literature on leader identity by investigating the influence of employee voice on leader identity over four weeks within a cross-cultural context.