Leader-member Exchange Differentiation Research Articles

Does my leader care about my subgroup? A multilevel model of team faultlines, LMX quality, and employee absenteeism

ABSTRACT This article investigates the impact of demographic team faultlines on employee absenteeism by considering the level of leader-member exchange (LMX) that supervisors develop with members from different subgroups in a team. We integrate faultline research with the literature on LMX differentiation to build an integrative multilevel model to explain individual absenteeism behaviour. Drawing from social categorization and social comparison theory, we propose that members of subgroups that receive less favourable LMX treatment than their outgroup are particularly likely to increase their absenteeism behaviour due to faultline-induced social categorization. Our predictions receive empirical support in a study with 164 employees from a German electrical engineering company. We discuss implications for the faultline and LMX literature and executives who lead diverse teams.

A multilevel investigation of leader-member exchange differentiation's consequences: A moral disengagement perspective.

We examine the effects of leader–member exchange (LMX) differentiation on team members’ outcomes (customer-oriented constructive and destructive deviant behaviors) by using team moral disengagement as a psychological mechanism mediating this relationship and LMX differentiation bases (i.e., performance and personal liking) moderating the relationship. Analysis of multilevel data collected from 289 frontline employees organized into 76 finance-related customer service teams shows that LMX differentiation significantly reduced team moral disengagement only when the performance basis was high, and that the negative relationship between LMX differentiation and team moral disengagement was significant only when the personal liking basis was low. Furthermore, we found that the LMX bases moderated the indirect effect of LMX differentiation on team members’ outcomes through team moral disengagement. The findings advance team moral disengagement as a novel mechanism for cross-level relationship between LMX differentiation and team members’ outcomes at the individual level, and project differentiation bases as a condition under which LMX differentiation unpacks the reasons for team members’ favorable or unfavorable responses. They reveal LMX differentiation as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, whose essence can only be understood if examined from multiple levels. We also contribute to the literature by revealing the cognitive pathway through which LMX differentiation may be associated with team members outcomes.

The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Paradoxical Leadership to Organizational Citizenship Behavior.

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and attribution theory, this study aims to explore the influencing mechanism of paradoxical leadership on organizational citizenship behavior.Participants and MethodsAccording to the research purpose, this study selects enterprises in the manufacturing, financial and high-tech industries in Shandong Province as the research objects, and collects data on the leaders and employees of the human resources departments and marketing departments in the enterprises. Data were collected from 77 leaders and 473 employees in China by a two-wave questionnaire survey. Hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation model approach were employed to test hypotheses.ResultsThis study found that perceived insider status and psychological entitlement play mediating roles about paradoxical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior; Collectivism moderates the relationship between paradoxical leadership and perceived insider status, and moderates the positive mediating role played by perceived insider status in the relationship of paradoxical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior; Leader-member exchange differentiation moderates the relationship about paradoxical leadership and psychological entitlement, and moderates negative mediating role played by psychological entitlement in the relationship of paradoxical leadership’s and organizational citizenship behavior.ConclusionThe findings of this study offer guidance for managers to better undermine the negative effects of paradoxical leadership, and improve organizational citizenship behavior.InnovationsFirst, this study extends the literature on paradoxical leadership by verifying the double-edged sword effect of paradoxical leadership to organizational citizenship behavior. Second, this study enriches one’s understanding of the “black box” underlying the link between paradoxical leadership and its consequences by demonstrating the mediating roles of perceived insider status and psychological entitlement. Third, by verifying the moderating roles of collectivism and leader-member exchange differentiation, this study provides insights into the boundary conditions of the impact of paradoxical leadership.

Individual Variation in Responding to Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation: The Moderating Roles of Internal Locus of Control and Self-Efficacy

This study examines how differentiation in leader–member exchange relationships (LMXD) provokes different individual responses depending on personal dispositions—internal locus of control and self-efficacy. Further, we identify three types of individual behavioral responses to LMXD: in-role and extra-role performance as self-focused responses, impression management toward the leader as a leader-focused response, and social undermining of coworkers as a coworker-focused response. Analysis of data from a survey conducted in South Korea demonstrates cross-level interaction effects between LMXD and the two dispositional variables on these behavioral responses of individuals. Specifically, LMXD is more positively related to in-role and extra-role performance and impression management toward the leader for individuals high than low in internal locus of control and for individuals high than low in self-efficacy. However, the cross-level interaction effects are not supported regarding social undermining of coworkers. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

How Subordinates Evaluate and Respond to the Legitimacy of Leader-Member Exchange Differentiation

Drawing on legitimacy framework and equity theory, this paper examines subordinates’ evaluating process of leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) legitimacy and their subsequent responses. Specifically, we use LMXD deservingness (i.e., subordinates’ perception that those who develop high-quality relationships with leaders make high contributions to their group) to capture subordinates’ legitimacy judgments of LMXD. And we propose that LMXD deservingness will mediate the relationships of LMXD with subordinates’ in-role performance and interpersonal helping. Furthermore, we expect that the cross-level effects of LMXD will be moderated by the characteristic of team context, that is, perceived team competition. Using surveys from 207 leaders and 1163 subordinates, we found support that LMXD deservingness mediated the effect of LMXD on subordinates’ in-role performance but not on subordinates’ interpersonal helping. In addition, LMXD’s direct impact on LMXD deservingness and indirect impact on subordinates’ in-role performance via LMXD deservingness were more negative when perceived team competition is high rather than low. Theoretical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Maybe It Is Who You Know: Social Networks and Leader-Member Exchange Differentiation (WITHDRAWN)

Existing literature on leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) offers a meaningful view into the multilevel outcomes associated with this phenomenon. However, despite the rapid growth of literature on LMXD, scholars lack a complete understanding of its antecedents or the processes that cause leaders to differentiate among members of a workgroup. We address this issue by using social capital theory to propose that leaders perceive their followers’ social networks as potential resources to grow their own social capital. Because each follower has unique social networks, we propose that leaders differentiate LMX among followers depending on which followers provide them with access to the most social resources. In this conceptual paper, we posit that leaders attribute status to followers depending on the structure of their social networks and their position within those networks, and that key contingencies such as a team’s psychological safety climate or a leader’s ambition influence the relationship between social network characteristics and LMXD. Overall, our conceptual paper provides a unique multilevel perspective of LMXD and provides important insights for both researchers and practitioners alike.

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Leader-Star Exchange on Nonstar Individual and Team Performance

Current research highlights the importance of workplace relationships (e.g., leader-member exchange and team-member exchange) on individual and team performance. However, there is a lack of understanding of the effects of leader-star exchange relationship (LSX), defined as the dyadic relationships between team leader and team star performer. Drawing on theories of justice, we empirically examine both direct and indirect effects of LSX on nonstar individual and team performance in a three-wave multi-source, multi-level study of 190 teams, consisting of 190 leaders and 798 employees. Our findings suggest that through impacting the collective justice climate (CJC), LSX is positively related to both nonstar individual and team performance. In addition, through CJC, LSX moderates the relationships of leader-member exchange (LMX) and leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) on nonstar individual performance such that it significantly influences the direction of these relationships. Specifically, LSX strengthens the positive relationship between nonstar LMX and nonstar individual performance. On the other hand, LMXD is positively related to nonstar individual performance when there is high LSX between the leader and star performers and negatively related to nonstar individual performance when LSX is low. Implications of the effects of the leader’s relationship with star performers are discussed.

Envy: How Variability in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships Impacts Group and Individual Processes

When employees are placed in groups at work, those groups provide a natural comparison point for the employees particularly with regard to the relationship each group member holds with the group leader (i.e., LMX quality). This phenomenon has been examined within the literature both at the individual- (relative LMX; RLMX) and group-level (LMX differentiation; LMXD). However, our understanding is underdeveloped due to the limited integration of social comparison theory to the phenomenon. To address this limitation, we develop theory on the group-level social comparison process to complement our understanding of the individual-level social comparison process. We also highlight a key affective mechanism that emanates from social comparisons – benign envy. As such comparisons occur, employees are envious of their (or their group’s) diminished position and motivated to improve their status (or their group’s) and perform better at work. Using a sample of 480 individuals nested within 90 groups, we find a parallel effect at both levels. Specifically, we find a positive indirect effect from RLMX to individual performance through individual benign envy and from LMXD to group performance through group benign envy. We also find that higher levels of leader prototypicality weaken the positive indirect effect from LMXD to group performance.

Equality Does Not Make You Happy: Effects of Differentiated Leader-Member Exchange and Team-Member Exchange on Developer Satisfaction in Agile Development Teams

Prior work on leadership in information systems development (ISD) teams has assumed that all developers are treated equally by their team leader and ignored the possibility that differentiated leader-member exchange (LMX) may be an important instrument for team leaders to influence self-organizing, agile ISD teams. We conducted a concurrent mixed methods inquiry to understand how LMX differentiation is associated with developer satisfaction in agile ISD teams and through which team processes agile ISD teams address LMX differentiation. We ran a multilevel, multistage survey of 1,894 software developers in 217 teams and an embedded case study of five ISD teams drawing on qualitative data from 40 interviews of developers and team leaders. Two focus groups (one with 10 developers and one with 10 team leaders) helped to substantiate the meta-inferences from the quantitative and qualitative studies. The results showed that LMX differentiation was positively associated with developer satisfaction, especially in teams with high-quality team-member exchange (TMX). We identify three team processes (i.e., collectivization of resources, visible appreciation of privileges, and freeing up leader capacities) that are enacted through agile ISD practices and allow ISD teams to leverage benefits from LMX differentiation for all their members.

A contemporary view of interpersonal aggression and cyberbullying through ICT: multilevel insights from LMX differentiation

PurposeWhile the rapid adoption of information communication technologies (ICT) in organizations has been linked with a higher risk of cyberbullying, research on the influence of cyberbullying on interpersonal behaviors in the workplace remains limited. By drawing on the ego-depletion theory and the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, this research investigates how, why and when workplace cyberbullying may trigger interpersonal aggression through ICT.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from 259 employees and 62 supervisors working in large ICT organizations in China through a multi-wave survey. The authors performed multilevel analysis and used hierarchical linear modeling to test the proposed moderated mediation model.FindingsThe results revealed that workplace cyberbullying has a significant and positive influence on interpersonal aggression in the workplace via ego depletion. The authors found that differentiation in LMX processes at group level moderates the indirect relationship between workplace cyberbullying and interpersonal aggression (via ego depletion). Furthermore, the positive indirect effect of workplace cyberbullying was found to be stronger in the presence of a high LMX differentiation condition in comparison to a low LMX differentiation condition.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from Chinese ICT organizations, which may limit the generalization of this study’s findings to other cultural and sectoral contexts.Originality/valueThis paper provides the first step in understanding how, why and when workplace cyberbullying triggers interpersonal aggression by investigating the role of ego depletion as a mediator and LMX differentiation as a boundary condition. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationships between workplace cyberbullying, ego depletion, LMX differentiation and interpersonal aggression in ICT organizations using multi-level modeling.

Treat me better, but is it really better? Applying a resource perspective to understanding leader-member exchange (LMX), LMX differentiation, and work stress.

The leader-member exchange (LMX) literature proposes that leaders tend to differentiate the quality of relationships among their followers, but it remains unclear how individual LMX and LMX differentiation (i.e., the degree to which followers' LMX quality with the same leader varies within a team) may jointly shape follower well-being such as work stress. Drawing from a resource perspective, we hypothesize that LMX differentiation reduces the beneficial effect of LMX on work stress via decreasing perceived distributive justice. Work stress is further hypothesized to mediate the relationship between LMX and employees' proactive behavior and prosocial behavior. Three empirical studies were conducted to test the hypothesized model. Study 1 surveyed a sample of 1,181 employees nested in 120 teams from a Chinese insurance firm across three time points; Study 2 manipulated both LMX and LMX differentiation in a vignette-based experiment using 140 full-time employees in the United States; and Study 3 surveyed 440 full-time employees in the United States across three time points. Results provided converging evidence for our hypothesized model and suggest that one's relationship with their leader-both on its own and in relation to others' relationships with the same leader-may serve as an important source for their psychological well-being (or lack thereof). Theoretical and practical implications were discussed along with limitations and future directions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Maybe It Is Who You Know: Social Networks and Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation

Existing literature on leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) offers a meaningful view into the multilevel outcomes associated with leader follower relationships. However, despite the rapid growth of literature on LMXD, scholars lack a complete understanding of its antecedents or the processes that cause leaders to differentiate among team members. We address this issue by using social capital theory to propose that leaders perceive their followers’ social networks as potential resources to grow their own social capital. Because each follower has unique social networks, we propose that leaders differentiate LMX among followers depending on which followers provide them with access to the most social resources. In this conceptual paper, we posit that as leaders gain information about their followers’ social networks, they attribute status to each follower depending on their perception of that follower’s social capital. We then propose that key contingencies, such as a team’s psychological safety climate or a leader’s ambition, influence the relationship between social network characteristics and LMXD. Overall, our model provides a unique multilevel perspective of LMXD and provides important insights for both researchers and practitioners alike.

Leader–member exchange differentiation and employee performance: A political perspective

SummaryVariability in the quality of relationships between leaders and followers, referred to as leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD), is common in organizations. In the current study, we propose a political perspective to illustrate the mechanism through which LMXD influences employee task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Using multisource survey data collected from 304 employees working in 62 work groups, we found that LMXD is an antecedent of group political climate, which in turn influences employee work behaviors. The mediating effects of group political climate remained significant after controlling for supervisory justice climate, which has been considered as the dominant mechanism in prior studies in explaining group‐level outcomes of LMXD. Furthermore, we found moderating effects of group political climate and indirect moderating effects of LMXD via group political climate on the relationships between individual level LMX quality and members' work behaviors. Specifically, the results showed that political climate strengthens the positive relationships between individual level LMX quality and employees' task performance and OCB toward individuals and that LMXD indirectly moderates the relationships through group political climate.

When Teamwork Works: Examining the Relationship Between Leader-Member Exchange Differentiation and Team Creativity.

Drawing on team creativity literature and social comparison theory, we investigate how leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation influences team creativity. Using a survey based on 91 R&D teams from Chinese companies, we observe that LMX differentiation is negatively related to team creativity (β = −0.35, p < 0.01). More importantly, we demonstrate that team behavioral integration mediates the relationship between LMX differentiation and team creativity (indirect effect size = −0.72, with 95% CI of −1.91, −0.13), and team emotional intelligence (TEI) moderates the relationship between LMX differentiation and team behavioral integration (β = 0.23, p < 0.05), such that LMX differentiation has a weaker negative influence on team behavioral integration when TEI is higher. These results provide relevant suggestions for organizational team building, management, and development.

The Effect of Big Five Personality Traits on Leader Member Exchange and Organization Citizenship Behavior in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities

The Effect of Big Five Personality Traits on Leader Member Exchange and Organization Citizenship Behavior in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities

The Effects of leader–member perception of LMX quality

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.

Explaining the relational mechanisms and outcomes of multi‐modal leader–member‐exchange differentiation

AbstractResearch suggests that multi‐modal leader–member‐exchange (LMX) differentiation could be the most problematic pattern of differentiation. Therefore, we outline a conceptual model to explain how multi‐modal LMX differentiation can manifest as an LMX faultline—a special type of group faultline representing leader‐sourced social divides between a leader's preferred subgroup and nonpreferred subgroup(s) within a specified collective. LMX faultlines have dimensions of perceived multi‐modal LMX differentiation as well as faultline potency components of compositional diversity, unfairness of differentiation, and faultline agreement. We use LMX faultlines to explain how group members coalesce into subgroups based on concurrent forces of intra‐subgroup cohesion and inter‐subgroup polarization. Cohesion and polarization explain group‐level outcomes (coordination, performance, and viability), subgroup‐level insulation, and individual‐level outcomes (performance, well‐being, and conformity to the subgroup).

From Ethical Leadership to Team Creativity: The Mediating Role of Shared Leadership and the Moderating Effect of Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation

Alongside ethical leadership’s effectiveness on team creativity, the superiority of shared leadership has been emphasized in the literature. Based on role theory, social information processing theory, and allocation preferences theory, this study suggests that shared leadership functions as a critical intermediating mechanism to explain the influence of ethical leadership on team-level creativity. Moreover, the dispersion value of leader–member exchange (LMXD) moderates the influence of ethical leadership on shared leadership. To empirically test our hypotheses, this paper used multisource samples and team-level data with moderated mediation model with PLS-SEM method. This study targeted a sample of 30 leaders and 233 team members who work at HRD Korea where a team structure is utilized. The results of structural equation modeling showed that ethical leadership increased shared leadership, and ethical leadership and shared leadership both positively affected team creativity. Shared leadership functioned as a crucial mediating factor in the ethical leadership–team creativity link. Moreover, the team-level LMXD moderated ethical leadership effectiveness on creativity via shared leadership.

Extending the Association Between Leader-Member Exchange Differentiation and Safety Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model.

PurposeThis study examines and analyses the impact of leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) on employee safety performance.MethodsA quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 357 Chinese construction industry employees through a structured questionnaire. The research hypothesis was tested by using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique.ResultsThe results showed that LMXD could directly and positively affect the negative emotions and indirectly affect the safety performance of employees through the mediating effect of negative emotions and work engagement. Interpersonal trust has a moderating impact on the relationship between LMXD and negative emotions.ConclusionThis study contributes to the literature on organizational behavior. Employee workplace safety is a great challenge in the construction industry. Enterprises should pay attention to the negative impact of LMXD. A fair working environment has significant importance to the employee’s safety.

How LMX Differentiation Attenuates the Influence of Ethical Leadership on Workplace Deviance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment.

The previous research has mostly proposed that ethical leadership contributed to less deviant behavior; however, recent studies found that this relationship might not always be significant. Therefore, a deeper and more nuanced investigation of how and when ethical leadership influences deviant behavior is highly warranted. In the present research, drawing on social learning theory as our overarching theoretical framework, we posited that high level of LMX differentiation will impede the effect of ethical leadership on employee deviant behavior, and thus, ethical leadership could reduce employees’ deviant behavior in teams with lower LMX differentiation rather than high LMX differentiation. Furthermore, we proposed that the interactive effect of ethical leadership and LMX differentiation on employee deviant behavior is mediated by employee psychological empowerment. More specifically, ethical leadership is more likely to enhance employee psychological empowerment in teams with low LMX differentiation than in teams with high LMX differentiation, and enhanced psychological empowerment contributed to less deviant behavior. Through a multi-source field study via 379 paired samples from the southwest of China, we found support for all of our hypotheses. The results’ contribution to research on organizational behavior, limitations in the study, and future directions for researchers are also discussed.