The increase in employee mobility across organizational boundaries presents challenges and opportunities for knowledge acquisition beyond formal employment frameworks. In this context, this study advances the concept of alumni voice—defined as former employees’ promotive behavior involving the expression of constructive challenges intended to improve their former employers—to investigate two pivotal questions: whether and how former organizational position influences alumni voice, and how personal sense of power moderates this relationship. Building on psychological ownership theory, we explore how employees' organizational positions in the former employer foster alumni voice. Senior employees accumulate valuable skills and knowledge at the former employer, forming a foundation for alumni voice. Psychological ownership mediates this relationship by reflecting continued feelings of control, knowing and investment toward the former organization, while sense of power amplifies this link, further enhancing alumni voice. Thus, this study develops a moderated mediation model that examines how former organizational positions foster alumni voice via enhanced psychological ownership, with personal sense of power amplifying this relationship.

A two-wave online survey involved 633 participants, all of whom were former employees now working as entrepreneurs or in top executive roles. The first wave assessed former organizational position, psychological ownership, and sense of power. The second wave, conducted one month later, measured alumni voice. This study controlled demographic data, including gender, age, education, and tenure. Moreover, unmeasured latent method construct (ULMC) was used to test the potential common method bias (CMB), and the moderated mediation hypothesis was tested using hierarchical regression and PROCESS macro. Additionally, this study employed a 2 (former organizational position: high/low) × 2 (sense of power: high/low) between-subjects experimental design with 267 participants. Using role-playing scenarios to simulate employees transitioning into founding team members post-departure, we successfully validated and confirmed the robustness of our initial survey findings.

The data analysis revealed that a higher former organizational position is associated with a greater willingness to engage in alumni voice, and this link is explained by psychological ownership: individuals in more senior roles reported stronger feelings of “ownership” toward their former organization, which in turn fueled their willingness to engage in alumni voice. Importantly, personal sense of power moderated this relationship: those with a stronger personal sense of power showed a steeper increase in psychological ownership as former organizational position rose, and consequently exhibited a stronger indirect effect of position on alumni voice through ownership. The results of data analysis demonstrated significant direct and indirect pathways, and the indirect effect of former organizational position on alumni voice via psychological ownership was significantly greater at higher levels of sense of power. Together, these results illustrate a moderated-mediation process by which former organizational position drives alumni voice through psychological ownership, with personal power amplifying this indirect effect through psychological ownership.

The theoretical contributions of this study are threefold. First, this study defines and introduces the concept of alumni voice. It positions such voice as a cross-organizational knowledge backflow from former employees, thereby transcending the traditional organizational boundaries that have limited the voice literature to current employees. Second, this study challenges the employment constraint in traditional voice literature that roots voice in employment relationships as an insider obligation. In doing so, it reveals that alumni voice is primarily motivated by affective bonds, representing voluntary knowledge feedback rather than role-based duty. Finally, this study deepens the understanding of psychological ownership by validating its dynamic continuity after employment ends, challenging static perspectives. Practically, organizations can leverage this mechanism through three strategies: (1) Establish formal channels for alumni to contribute insights via dedicated platforms (e.g., alumni forums) to maximize their value; actively solicit feedback through structured initiatives. (2) Nurture alumni networks to access external resources and collaboration opportunities; foster an alumni-friendly culture and implement connection-focused recruitment; and host open days and visits to strengthen ties and enable relationship spillover. (3) Cultivate psychological ownership among employees to deepen their organizational attachment; prompt alumni to serve as external advocates who promote organizational interests and generate tangible benefits.