The effect of leader-member exchange on job performance of academic staff: An empirical evidence from higher education institutions

Abstract

Recently, the relationship between leader-member exchange and job performance has become more interesting subject among researchers. However, the literature has a paucity of empirical studies conducted in the higher education institutions; therefore, the relationship between these two variables is not clear. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of leader-member exchange on the job performance of academic staff in higher educational institutions. The data for the study were collected from the academic staff (n=174) of five faculties of sport sciences in Turkey. The LMX-7 scale developed by Scandura and Graen (1984) was used to determine the quality of the interactions between leaders (i.e., administrators) and members (i.e., academic staff). Sigler and Pearson’s (2000) job performance scale, which is a modified version of Kirkman and Rosen’s (1999) team productivity scale, was used to measure job performance. The findings exposed a statistically significant positive effect of leader-member exchange on job performance (p<0.05).