High Leader-member Exchange Relationships Research Articles

The contribution of leader–member exchange (LMX) to organisational sustainable development: Results and implications from Kenyan public universities study

We aimed to establish the contribution of leader–member exchange (LMX) to sustainable development of public universities in the emerging country of Kenya. The participants were 320 employees from public universities in Kenya (female = 43.1%; middle level managers = 47.8%, top leadership team = 26.6%; mean year of service = 13 years, SD = 3.6 years). They completed measures on LMX, innovative work behaviour, organisational engagement and sustainable development. Following structural equation modelling, findings showed that high quality LMX characteristics exhibited between leaders and followers significantly contributed to organisational sustainable development. High quality LMX also significantly contributed to employee organisation engagement. The results further revealed that innovative work behaviour was positively associated with sustainable development in that high LMX relationships between leaders and their followers inspired workers to be more innovative in their jobs. Our findings suggest a need for emerging countries’ public universities to incorporate LMX in their policies and procedures for their sustainability. The results indicate that high LMX is a key factor for driving successful public universities in developing country settings.

The development of blended friendship in high leader-member exchange relationships: Mechanisms and consequences of a relational shift.

Confusion persists about the overlap between high-quality leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships and personal friendships between a leader and a subordinate. How these notions differ, shift from one to the other, and what their consequences are remain unclear. This paper proposes a framework that examines the fundamental differences between high LMX relationships and friendships. We argue that when high LMX relationships shift toward friendships, they in fact shift toward blended friendships, where the leader and the subordinate concomitantly enact two distinct roles, worker and friend. These blended friendships are qualitatively different from high LMX and from friendships. We detail the process by which blended friendship develops in the context of high LMX relationships and identify the key variables and mechanisms that drive the emergence of such blended friendships. We then examine how subordinates' well-being, job engagement, performance, and turnover may simultaneously benefit and suffer from their involvement in a blended friendship.

Locus of Control and Leader–Member Exchange: A Dimensional, Contextualized, and Prospective Analysis

Since the relationship between leaders and subordinates has important implications for organizations, exploring how high-quality leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships develop over time is a critical research objective. However, LMX research has essentially focused on leader-centric approaches to describe how leaders develop differential relationships with subordinates and has devoted little attention to the influence of subordinate characteristics. This study contends that subordinates’ individual differences may act as drivers of LMX relationships. Specifically, we posited that individuals with an internal work locus of control, owing to their sense of control over the work environment, are more prone to develop high LMX relationships over time. Moreover, we expected this effect to be enhanced when these individuals are given clear expectations about their work role because such conditions would ease their sense of agency. Further, we suggested that these effects may partly depend on the dimension of LMX (i.e., affect, loyalty, contribution, and professional respect) under consideration. We argued that the effect of internal work locus of control would generalize to all LMX dimensions but that its interaction with role clarity would primarily impact the loyalty and contribution dimensions of LMX as their behavioral orientation would result in valued outcomes for internals. Data were collected through questionnaires among a sample of 424 employees working in various industries. Through a two-wave study and controlling for the autoregressive effects of LMX, subordinates’ internal work locus of control was found to enhance LMX relationships over time. Using a multidimensional approach to LMX, our results further show that the effect of internal work locus of control generalized to all dimensions of LMX. Using a contextualized view of the development of LMX, we also found that role clarity moderated the positive relationship between internal work locus of control and LMX over time such that the relationship was stronger when role clarity was high. However, from a dimensional perspective, role clarity only accentuated the relationship between work locus of control and LMX’s loyalty dimension. The implications of these findings for LMX research are discussed.

Too attached to speak up? It depends: How supervisor–subordinate guanxi and perceived job control influence upward constructive voice

In general, reciprocal supervisor–subordinate relationships (high leader–member exchange relationships) provide a supportive context for employees to speak up. In China however, supervisor–subordinate relationships or guanxi are characterized by affective characteristics and hierarchical characteristics which may respectively facilitate and inhibit employee voice. We draw on Guanxi Theory to develop a model of differential effects of two dimensions of supervisor–subordinate guanxi (affective attachment to the supervisor and deference to the supervisor) on voice. Results of a multi-source, lagged field study demonstrated that the affective attachment to the supervisor dimension of guanxi facilitated and the deference to supervisor dimension of guanxi inhibited voice, when employees experienced low job control. We discuss ways these findings extend our understanding of the nature of supervisor–subordinate relationships, guanxi, and their impact on voice.