The Silent Struggle: Voice vs. Silence

The heart of this research lies in a critical tension: the choice between speaking up and staying silent. For decades, management theory has assumed that when employees are unhappy, they choose between "voice" (trying to improve things) or "exit" (leaving). But in the context of Saudization, the exit is often already predetermined by the state. This creates a pressure cooker environment where the decision to share knowledge or withhold it becomes a strategic survival mechanism.

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This issue matters immensely because the entire success of Saudization depends on a transfer of capability. The policy assumes that expatriates will willingly mentor their Saudi replacements. However, Faqihi’s work reveals that when skilled migrants feel threatened by job insecurity or discrimination, they don't just leave; they cognitively withdraw. They adopt "defensive silence" and engage in "knowledge hiding"—playing dumb or evasively withholding critical information to maintain their relevance. This hidden resistance can quietly derail the national agenda, creating "ghost employment" where locals are hired but never truly trained, satisfying quotas without building genuine capacity.