Do wise leaders encourage employees to speak up?

Scientific attention to practical wisdom (i.e., phronesis) remains scarce and quantitative empirical research in the domain of leadership is nearly nonexistent. Through a two-wave field study (Portugal), a three-wave field study (US), and a vignette-based experimental study (US and Brazil), we (a) operationalize leader-expressed practical wisdom as a core construct including three behavioral manifestations (reflecting, judging, and acting), and (b) show that leader-expressed practical wisdom predicts employees’ speaking up behaviors through their perceived team psychological safety. Our findings may help management scholars and practitioners to better understand how the ancient virtue of practical wisdom can support leaders and their companies to do well and to do well.