In interviews with 40 employees, most had been in a situation where they were concerned about an issue at work and did not raise it with a supervisor. Some said they did not feel comfortable speaking to those above them about any issue at all. The most frequently mentioned reason for staying silent was fear of being viewed or labelled negatively, and of damaging valued relationships as a result.
The study is Milliken, Morrison and Hewlin, “An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence: Issues that Employees Don’t Communicate Upward and Why”, Journal of Management Studies, volume 40, number 6, September 2003, pages 1453 to 1476. The finding above is as stated in the abstract. The full paper is paywalled.
Source: Milliken, Morrison and Hewlin, “An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence”, Journal of Management Studies, 2003-09-01.