The Effects of leader–member perception of LMX quality

Abstract

Unlike most leader-member exchange research based solely on members' perceptions, the purpose of this study is focusing on leader-follower mutual perceptions of LMX and how it is related to work value congruence and follower outcomes such as affective commitment and turnover intention. Furthermore, we consider organizational culture and LMX differentiation as contextual variables that influences an antecedent and consequence of mutual perception of LMX. For this study, survey was administered to employees of various companies, and both leader and follower reported their perceptions of LMX. We finally analyzed responses of 266 leader-member dyad from 60 teams of 19 companies. The results show that leader-follower work-value congruence positively related to LMX perceived by leader-member and the sequential mediating effect of mutual perception of LMX and affective commitment in the relationship between work value congruence and turnover intention. Especially, through multilevel analysis, we examined the cross- level moderating effects of contextual variables such as organizational culture and LMX differentiation on mutual perception of LMX. As expected, findings show that the positive relationship between work value congruence and LMX perceived by leader-member is strengthened in the low ““performance oriented”” culture compared to high performance-oriented culture. Although the result was marginally significant, we also found that the cross-level interaction effects of LMX differentiation based on leader ratings on the relationship between the leader-member mutual perception of LMX and affective commitment. This implies that high mutual perception of LMX quality increases subordinate’s affective commitment when leader’s differentiation is low, and it results in lower turnover intention.