This study explores corporate leadership challenges in the global pandemic era, where innovation and agile adaptability have proven critical for seizing emerging opportunities. A key factor in organizational resilience is employees' willingness to voice critical observations—enabling timely issue resolution and fostering innovation—whereas employee silence can create long-term developmental barriers. Against this backdrop, the research investigates a widespread workplace phenomenon: employees perceiving career stagnation (hierarchical career plateau) and its consequences, including turnover intentions. We examine whether silence behavior serves as an alternative response to such stagnation and how interactional justice and internal locus of control personality traits may mitigate this behavior, offering organizations actionable strategies to cultivate open communication.


Using a two-wave online survey design, data were collected from 395 experienced employees (3+ years of tenure) across diverse industries in Taiwan. The results demonstrate that silence behavior mediates the relationship between hierarchical career plateaus and turnover intentions. Moderating effects reveal that internal locus of control strengthens the role of interactional justice in attenuating the link between career plateaus and silence behavior, though neither factor independently alters this relationship.


These findings provide organizations with evidence-based insights to reduce silence, encourage proactive communication, and enhance adaptive capacity in volatile environments. By clarifying the mechanisms linking career stagnation, silence, and turnover, the study contributes to both scholarly discourse and practical interventions for fostering innovation-supportive cultures.