The Effect of Leader-Member Exchange “LMX” on Employee Turnover Intent: An Applied Study on the Telecommunication Sector in Egypt

Abstract

The paper examines whether the Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory has an effect on the employee turnover intent in the presence of intercultural competence. Our sample consists of 319 employees working in the telecommunications sector in Egypt. The dependent variable is employee turnover and the independent variable is LMX, where LMX as a variable is measured by four components: affect, loyalty, contribution and professional respect. We used intercultural competence as the moderating variable. Intercultural competence is measured by nine components: cross cultural empathy, self-efficacy, willingness to engage, cross cultural openness, emotional self-regulation, self-monitoring, tolerance for ambiguity, low need for cognitive and cognitive flexibility. We used Cronbach’s alpha, path analysis and path regressions in our statistical analysis. Our results showed a significant positive relationship between LMX and employee turnover intent and an indirect relationship between LMX and employee turnover intent in the presence of intercultural competence.