The involvement of young people in the leadership of the church is critical. However, various obstacles impede the involvement of young people in the managerial leadership of the church, where critical decisions about the church are made. Many Christian churches are experiencing a youth leadership vacuum in their structural organisation, which, if not addressed, will jeopardise their future. To properly tackle this problem, there is a need to research on the obstacles impeding the inclusion of young people in the managerial positions of the church in Nyanchwa Station, South Kenya Conference. The study was enucleated by the Leader-Member Exchange Theory that focuses on the rapport between a leader and each follower considered independently. The target population of the study was 300 participants, with a sample size of 169. Censuses, purposive and simple random, were employed as sampling techniques for specific clusters of respondents. The study found that the Adventist church in Nyanchwa Station is not cognizant of the fact that effective leadership should be grounded upon identifying challenges and coming up with strategies that solve these problems. It is recommended that adult church leaders and the church in general should overcome the power barriers between youth and adults and actively engage the youth in leadership roles of the church, and create opportunities for authentic decision-making within the top leadership of the church

Reciprocal relationship between newcomer task performance and leader–member exchange: The moderating role of political skill

Purpose This study explores how organizational artificial intelligence (AI) adoption influences employee voice behavior through psychological mechanisms. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we investigate job engagement as a mediator and leader-member exchange (LMX) quality as a moderator in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach We employed a 3-wave time-lagged design with 327 employees from South Korean organizations. Data were collected at six-week intervals: organizational AI adoption and LMX (T1), job engagement (T2) and voice behavior (T3). Moderated mediation analysis tested our hypothesized model. Findings Organizational AI adoption positively relates to voice behavior through enhanced job engagement. This indirect effect is strengthened by high-quality LMX relationships. Employees experiencing high LMX show stronger positive relationships between AI adoption and job engagement, subsequently exhibiting more voice behavior. The moderated mediation index confirms that LMX quality significantly influences how AI adoption affects voice behavior through engagement. Originality/value This study advances understanding of AI'shuman-side implications beyond productivity metrics. By revealing how technological and relational resources interact to influence discretionary behaviors, we contribute to literature on technology adoption, employee engagement and leadership. The findings demonstrate that AI adoption can enhance rather than diminish employee voice when supported by appropriate leadership relationships.

Purpose This study examines the relationship between perceived leaders’ Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and followers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We explore how leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived political skill mediate these effects. The study provides a comparative analysis across managerial and non-managerial levels, revealing how these dynamics function at different hierarchical positions. Methodology Data was collected from two independent samples representing distinct hierarchical levels: non-managerial employees ( n = 378) and managers ( n = 340). Participants rated their perceptions of their leaders’ Dark Triad traits, political skill, and the quality of their exchange relationship (LMX), as well as their own OCB. We analyzed data using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the direct and indirect effects. Findings Our findings reveal distinct patterns of association for each of the perceived Dark Triad traits. These patterns highlight the complex ways in which the perception of leaders possessing the dark traits impacts OCB through LMX and perceptions of leaders’ political skill. Originality and implications This study contributes novel insights by examining the mechanisms through which perceived leadership Dark Triad traits relate to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) across organizational levels. By revealing the mediating roles of LMX and perceived political skill, this research enhances our understanding of the dynamics of Dark Triad leadership. The findings provide practical insights for organizations addressing the challenges posed by leaders who possess dark traits.

ABSTRACT Schools are interactive structures where many dynamics coexist. The interaction of each dynamic in this structure with the others is also an important factor affecting the effectiveness and quality of the educational organization. In this study, we focused on the dynamics influencing the school. In this line, this study aims to examine the mediating role of school culture in the relationship between organizational justice and leader-member exchange. The study employed a correlational design to investigate the relationships among the study variables. We gathered data from 429 teachers with various characteristics to test the model. We tested four hypotheses in the study and obtained the following results: (1) Perceived organizational justice has a positive effect on leader-member exchange, (2) Organizational justice positively affects and enhances school culture, (3) School culture contributes positively to leader-member exchange and enhances the quality of communication, (4) School culture mediates the relationship between organizational justice and leader-member exchange. The results highlight that strengthening the organizational culture of schools and increasing teachers’ perceptions of justice will positively contribute to the effectiveness and quality of schools.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telework, making hybrid work a standard practice in many organizations. Whilst pre-pandemic research primarily focused on telework intensity (TI), recent shifts require a more nuanced approach, considering both TI and flexibility. Telework flexibility (TF), defined as the autonomy to choose telework frequency, schedule and workdays, remains underexplored despite its potential impact on organizational commitment and leader-member exchange. The aim to examine how two key dimensions of telework – flexibility and intensity – affect employees’ affective organizational commitment (AOC) and leader-member exchange (LMX). It also explores the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in these relations. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 578 teleworkers in Belgium. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that TF is positively related to AOC and LMX through POS. Employees with greater TF perceive higher organizational support, which in turn enhances AOC and LMX. Conversely, TI had a significant negative direct effect on AOC and no significant relation with LMX, nor indirect effects through POS. Research limitations/implications Future studies should further investigate, in a longitudinal design, how teleworking has been formalized and gather specific information about telework policies to assess how different policies can affect the attitudes of workers toward the organization and the leader. Practical implications This study has several implications for practice. Their results regarding TI seem to illustrate the shift that has been generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking and TI more specifically, could lead to being left “out of mind,” with workers being at risk of missing out on organizational resources, exposed to the mistrust of their leader and to more challenging interactions (Sewell and Taskin, 2015; Vayre and Pignault, 2014). Now that teleworking has become more of a routine than a perk (Bolívar-Cruz et al., 2024), workers may be more mindful of how telework is implemented rather than of the mere fact of teleworking, as attest the relationships of TF with AOC and LMX through POS in their study. Thus, organizations and managers should tend to develop telework policies that provide sufficient flexibility to workers in their implementation of telework, as telework is becoming an important factor in job attractiveness (Moens et al., 2024). Moreover, developing adequate telework policies will be key in user branding, not only to attract candidates but also to retain current employees (Junça Silva and Dias, 2023). Indeed, while telework theoretically gives more time and place flexibility than working from the office (Schulze et al., 2024), its benefits can only be enjoyed by workers when the organizational policies give them sufficient autonomy on how they may implement telework and when they may telework (Aksnes et al., 2023). Social implications This research would contribute to workers’ development of an emotional attachment to their organization, as well as to high-quality exchange relationships with their leader. Nonetheless, high-intensity telework should be considered with caution regarding the development of the sense of belonging to the organization. Originality/value These findings highlight the importance of organizational policies that enhance TF to strengthen and improve organizational ties. Telework could then be considered a resource when it is implemented flexibly. However, high TI should be considered with caution regarding the development of the sense of belonging to the organization.

Purpose This qualitative research study examines the experiences of aspiring leaders who completed a school-to-university 15-month field-based residency, proceeded through the principal pipeline, successfully secured an assistant principal position, and grew into a campus principal or district leader. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an exploratory narrative qualitative design to investigate the impact of principal mentoring from a leadership exchange lens years after program completion. The following research question guided this study using the experiences of four principal residency program graduates: What mentoring and leadership exchanges do aspiring leaders identify as most influential during a 15-month residency? A deductive analysis approach informed by leader–member exchange (LMX) theory framed the study’s findings. Findings The study’s findings categorized the high-quality exchanges between the mentor principal and the aspiring leader in four areas: (1) empowerment through guided autonomy, (2) open dialogue and feedback, (3) modeled leadership practices, and (4) systems thinking and strategic leadership. The low-quality exchanges involved (5) outsourcing mentoring activities to other individuals and (6) a lack of instructional leadership. Originality/value The study’s findings contribute to the literature in multiple ways. First, this exploratory study investigates the post-program impact of a principal preparation program and their mentoring experiences several years after aspiring leaders completed their field-based leadership residency in their home district. Secondly, the findings operationalize an effective mentor principal, the lynchpin of all preparation programs, within a LMX framework. Lastly, the practices described from field-based residency experiences are important feedback on program structures and expectations for future aspiring leaders.

In recent years, research on workplace envy has expanded beyond its traditional focus on peer-to-peer envy to examine the envy felt by supervisors toward their subordinates (termed as "downward envy"). We contribute to this emerging research stream by examining the emotional and behavioral reactions of employees who are targets of such downward envy, as well as the relational consequences that follow. We tested our model, which is based on the appraisal theory of emotions, across two studies-a multisource, multiphase field study and a vignette-based experimental study-that offer converging evidence in its support. Aligned with our theory, we found that employees appraise downward envy as a relational threat to, or a relational opportunity for, their leader-member exchange relationship, which results in the emotions of relationship anxiety and hope, respectively. These emotions, in turn, elicit contrasting employee behaviors toward the supervisor: anxiety motivates avoidance, while hope encourages approach-oriented citizenship behaviors, which, respectively, have a negative and positive effect on the quality of the leader-member exchange relationship. Furthermore, employees' sense of power with respect to their supervisor was found to mitigate the anxiety-based pathway but played a limited role in influencing the hope-based pathway. Our research advances the nascent literature on downward envy and leader-member exchange instability and also offers practical insights for managing downward envy in organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Authentic leadership and employee psychological safety: the mediating role of leader-member exchange and the moderating effect of cultural collectivism.

In organizational settings, social courage behavior refers to employees’ willingness to voice concerns or correct errors for collective goals or organizational integrity while consciously taking on reputational, status, and relational risks. This paper systematically reviews existing research and distinguishes social courage from related constructs such as moral courage and voice behavior. Drawing on social risk theory, positive organizational behavior, moral cognition and motivation theory, and social exchange theory, it integrates the generation logic of four dimensions-risk, resources, values, and relationships-and conceptualizes social courage as a state-like behavior that can be situationally activated and managed. Furthermore, the paper proposes a theoretical model in which paradoxical leadership functions as the antecedent, leader–member exchange (LMX) quality serves as the mediating mechanism, social courage behavior is the outcome, and organizational support climate acts as the moderating variable. The model reveals the interactive effects of leadership, relationship quality, and organizational climate, enriching theoretical understanding and offering practical insights for fostering employees’ willingness to “speak up” and “act courageously” within organizations.

Purpose With security breaches in modern organizations increasingly linked to human factors, strengthening the “human firewall” has become essential. This study investigates how organizations can promote extra-role security behaviors – voluntary actions beyond formal responsibilities. Drawing on social information processing theory, we argue that employees interpret organizational and relational cues to shape their security behaviors. Within this framework, we incorporate leader–member exchange (LMX) theory to propose that information security (IS) climate elements (practice, importance and laxness) and LMX quality play critical roles in fostering employees' voluntary security actions. Design/methodology/approach This study used a 2-step testing process for the survey and adopted a partial least squares-structural equation modeling to test the proposed model with a sample of 564 validated responses. Findings The findings indicate that IS climate elements increase IS awareness and beliefs, leading to enhanced extra-role security behaviors. Furthermore, LMX has direct and moderating effects on extra-role security behaviors, significantly contributing to the field of behavioral IS. Originality/value This study offers a novel perspective by highlighting the roles of IS climate and LMX in shaping extra-role security behaviors. By focusing on voluntary security actions rather than compliance-driven behaviors, it diverges from prior research and provides a distinct theoretical contribution to the behavioral IS literature.

Purpose This paper aims to address a critical gap in the organizational literature by exploring how humble leadership affects employee innovative behavior in water-conscious hotel settings. Grounded in social exchange theory (SET), this paper posits that leader–member exchange (LMX) mediates this relationship, with organizational pride acting as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 315 hotel frontline employees working under water-conservation constraints in Egypt was used to collect data. Hypothesized relationships were tested using hierarchical multiple regression and PROCESS macro analyses. Findings Humble leadership improves LMX quality, which promotes employee innovative behavior. Further, LMX partially mediates the relationship between humble leadership and employee innovative behavior. Organizational pride also strengthened the indirect effect, underscoring its role as a critical boundary condition in sustainability-driven service settings. Practical implications Results highlight the importance of a humble leadership style that fosters trust and openness, reinforcing the relational and affective processes that drive eco-innovation in hospitality settings with limited resources. Originality/value This paper contributes to SET and hospitality leadership literature by presenting a moderated-mediation model that clarifies how humble leadership, LMX, and organizational pride shape innovative behavior in sustainability-oriented hotels.

Corruption remains a persistent challenge in local governments, particularly in developing countries, where internal whistleblowing is vital for detecting wrongdoing. Drawing on Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory, this study examines the effect of ethical leadership on internal whistleblowing intention, with psychological safety as a mediator and moral courage as a moderator. Survey data from 107 civil servants in Indonesian local government institutions were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that ethical leadership significantly enhances psychological safety but does not directly influence whistleblowing intention, nor does this relationship mediate psychological safety. However, moral courage significantly moderates the relationship between psychological safety and whistleblowing intention, strengthening the translation of psychological safety into ethical action. These findings indicate that while ethical leadership is necessary to foster a safe work environment, individual moral courage is decisive in encouraging whistleblowing. This study contributes to whistleblowing research by emphasizing the contingent role of moral traits and extends LMX theory by integrating psychological safety and moral courage.

This paper summarizes empirical findings on servant leadership (SL) in the academic domain. Using PRISMA guidelines, the study identified pertinent studies from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 20 quantitative studies that were published between 2020 and 2024 were selected using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Descriptive and thematic analyses were employed to interpret the selected studies, and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was applied to ensure methodological rigor. The results have shown that SL produces a significant improvement in faculty engagement, commitment, and job satisfaction. It also shows positive relationalities between SL, psychological empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The implementation of SL principles leads to a favorable school climate, academic success of students, better performance, engagement, and extra-role behaviors of the staff, especially in crisis periods. The majority of studies used Liden et al.’s (2008, 2015) servant leadership scale, whereas the theoretical framework shows the dominance of social exchange theory, social learning theory, and leader-member exchange theory. These insights can be used by educational administrators and policymakers to design new educational settings that can strengthen faculty motivation and institutional performance. Nevertheless, the search is restricted to English-language articles included in two databases, which limits the review in terms of examining cultural implications or causal relationships. The study is the first synthesis through PRISMA particularly focusing on SL in education that demonstrates its great effect on teachers, students, and institutions.

Mindful Leadership and Construction Workers’ Safety Citizenship Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model of Team Psychological Safety, Participative Safety Self-Efficacy, and Leader–Member Exchange

This study examines how Amanah-based Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) enhances organizational performance by emphasizing trust as a central relational mechanism in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on Social Exchange Theory and relational leadership perspectives, the study addresses an important gap in the LMX literature by positioning trust not merely as an outcome, but as a key pathway through which leadership relationships translate into performance outcomes. The research focuses on labor-intensive rattan SMEs in Solo Raya, Indonesia, where organizational performance depends heavily on close leader–employee interactions and relational coordination. Using a quantitative explanatory design, data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 189 employees working in rattan SMEs. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the proposed model linking three dimensions of Amanah-based LMX (respect, obligation, and trust) to affective commitment and organizational performance. The results demonstrate strong explanatory power, with the model explaining 78.6% of the variance in organizational performance and 74.5% in affective commitment.The findings reveal that Amanah Trust is the most influential predictor of affective commitment and organizational performance, both directly and indirectly through affective commitment. Respect and obligation dimensions also show positive direct effects on commitment and performance, although their indirect effects through affective commitment are weaker or non-significant. These results indicate that trust serves as the primary relational catalyst that converts ethical and supportive leadership behaviors into sustained performance outcomes in SMEs. This study contributes to the leadership literature by extending Leader–Member Exchange theory through the integration of Amanah-based trust as a central explanatory mechanism, offering a culturally grounded yet broadly applicable framework for understanding leadership effectiveness in resource-constrained organizational contexts. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of trust-oriented leadership development for enhancing commitment-driven performance in SMEs operating in competitive and uncertain environments.

Purpose Despite the significant impact of employees' norm-violating behaviors (NVB) in the workplace, extant literature has primarily categorized such behaviors as either constructive or destructive, neglecting their interconnected nature. Based on the social bonding theory and the Cognitive-affective Process System framework, this research aims to converge the isolated approaches by examining workplace loneliness as a shared antecedent of both constructive (voice) and destructive (unsafe behavior) NVBs, and positing workplace loneliness as a mediating mechanism linking hostile attribution bias (HAB) with these NVBs. In addition, we expect the positive relationship between HAB and loneliness to be attenuated by leader-member exchange (LMX). Design/methodology/approach Built on a three-wave survey of 204 supervisor-subordinate dyads, Study 1 employed an SEM approach to test the full model. Given the unexpected direction of the moderating effect in Study 1, we designed Study 2 as an experimental critical incident paradigm with 176 participants to re-examine this relationship. Findings The results reveal that HAB promotes both voice and unsafe behavior via workplace loneliness. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, however, the findings across two studies indicate that LMX augments rather than weakens the positive relationship between HAB and workplace loneliness. When LMX is high, instead of low, HAB is more strongly related to employees' workplace loneliness. Originality/value Through elucidating a cognitive-affective approach to employees' norm-violating behaviors, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of how individual employees' cognitive bias weakens the social bonds, which results in their adaptive and maladaptive nonconformity at work.

This study examines the relationship between leadership distance and employee engagement and the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in contemporary work settings. The rise of remote, hybrid, and digitally mediated work has increased physical, social, and psychological leadership distance, raising concerns about its impact on employee engagement. Using a conceptual literature review of studies published between 2000 and 2024, this paper integrates Social Exchange Theory, Leader–Member Exchange, and the Job Demands–Resources model to explain these dynamics. The findings suggest that greater leadership distance weakens trust and relational connection, leading to lower employee engagement, while POS mitigates these negative effects by enhancing employees’ sense of support and value. The study highlights the importance of strong organizational support systems, such as transparent communication and supportive digital infrastructures, to sustain engagement in distant and hybrid leadership contexts.

The modern retail industry in Depok City is experiencing major challenges driven by shifting consumer behavior, rapid technological change, and the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines how Transformational Leadership (TL) and Perceived Organizational Support (POS) influence Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), with Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) as a mediating variable. Using a quantitative survey of modern retail employees in Depok, the findings reveal that TL positively affects OCB, while POS influences OCB indirectly through LMX. These results highlight the importance of effective leadership and perceived support in fostering employees’ extra-role behavior within Indonesia’s retail sector. The study contributes practical insights for improving employee engagement and productivity in a post-pandemic retail environment.

This study aims to explore the influence mechanism of nursing supervisors' leader-member exchange (LMX) leadership efficacy on nursing staff turnover intention and the incidence of adverse medical events, while examining the moderating role of the Big Five personality traits in this process. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 376 clinical nursing staff at a medical center in southern Taiwan, with data analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Results indicate that nursing supervisors' LMX leadership efficacy exerts a significant negative influence on nursing staff turnover intention; turnover intention fully mediates the relationship between LMX and adverse events; and among the Big Five personality traits, Extraversion and Conscientiousness exert significant negative moderating effects on the relationship between turnover intention and adverse events. This study highlights the crucial role of personality traits in nursing management, providing empirical evidence and managerial insights for healthcare institutions to reduce turnover rates and enhance patient safety through optimized leadership styles and personnel selection strategies.