Leader-Member Exchange And Team-Member Exchange: The Roles Of Moderators In New Employees’ Socialization

Abstract

Studies of new employees’ socialization have largely concentrated on met and unmet expectations and their associated socialization outcomes. Academic researchers have suggested that interaction of the nature of leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX) between newcomers and their social and organizational contexts during the assimilation process should be examined. However, few studies have focused on the moderating factors that are expected to link the relationship between unmet expectations and socialization outcomes. The objective of the study is to explore the underlying job motivation factors and to determine the hypothesized moderating effects of TMX and LMX on the socialization outcomes. A sample of 417 new employees in hotels, travel agencies, and airlines in Hong Kong responded to a self-administered questionnaire. The results show that TMX produced a moderating effect on organizational commitment and LMX on turnover intentions. Implications for developing good interrelationships between coworkers are discussed.