Social Leader-member Exchange Research Articles

Leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and follower well-being: A daily diary study.

Guided by self-determination and social exchange theories, we examine how leader-member exchange (LMX) quality impacts follower well-being. Despite LMX relationships being dynamic in nature, the way relationship quality varies over time and its impact on well-being has not been examined in detail. To address this important issue, a daily diary study is reported of employees from a variety of organizations. One hundred and fifty-eight participants completed a daily diary in the morning and evening for five consecutive workdays (k = 603 observations). Measures included hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and social and economic LMX exchanges. There was a significant variation of LMX quality over the diary days. Daily LMX quality predicted daily follower well-being (while controlling for morning well-being). Further, for those that interacted with their manager, social LMX exchanges but not economic LMX exchanges predicted daily well-being. Interaction characteristics (frequency, time, content) had a relatively small impact on daily well-being. As predicted, work engagement mediated the relation between daily LMX quality and social LMX exchanges (but not daily economic LMX exchanges) with well-being. The results show how LMX quality affects followers' well-being that varies daily, that is affected by leaders' behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The Necessary Role of Leader-Member Exchange on Employee Outcomes

Utilizing a different paradigm, necessity logic (Dul, 2016) across two samples of leader-employee dyads (N1=127, N2=131), I test the extent to which the leader-member exchange (LMX) is a necessary condition for employees’ outcomes at work (i.e., work effort, work quality, job engagement and OCBO). At the individual level, empirical support is found for the necessary role of employee’s perception of the social LMX relationship on OCBO and work engagement. But especially, empirical support is found for the necessary role of leader’s perception of the social LMX relationship on work effort, work quality, OCBO and work engagement. At the dyadic level, findings indicate that leader and employee’s dissimilar perceptions of the social and economic LMX relationship is necessary for low work quality.

Dancing with the Rebel: Followers’ Successful Insubordination, Leaders’ Status Threat and LMX

Follower insubordination violates the social hierarchy inherent to leader-follower relationships. In this vein, past research focused on insubordination as dysfunctional behavior that is to be sanctioned (DeCelles & Aquino, 2020; Klaas, Olson-Buchanan, & Ward, 2012). However, we argue that insubordination can also be functional when followers’ alternative actions prove more successful than the leader’s instructions. It is thus the outcome, i.e., the success of insubordination, that determines the effects of insubordination on leaders and leader-follower relationships. Based on three scenario experiments with four samples (N = 214, N = 299, N = 439, N = 395), we find that followers’ successful insubordination, i.e., followers’ disobedience to their leaders’ orders in favor of alternative actions that successfully promote organizational goals, increases leader status. We find further that this status threat decreases social leader-member exchange perceptions (SLMX) but increases economic leader-member exchanges (ELMX). Taken leaders’ increased self-interest when interacting with successful but insubordinate followers, we thus point to leaders’ taking advantage of successful insubordinate followers despite their status threat.

Nonlinear effects of team abusive supervision on team members’ knowledge hiding

Despite the necessity of knowledge exchange, the individual employees tend to hide their knowledge based on different, mixed or no motives. Drawing on the integration of balance theory and displaced aggression theory, we explained the role of leadership in influencing employee knowledge hiding. Specifically, we proposed a U-shaped relationship between team abusive supervision and member knowledge hiding in teams. Moreover, we proposed that economic and social leader-member exchange moderate the relationship between team abusive supervision and employee knowledge hiding. Our analysis based on 260 employees nested in 63 groups revealed that team abusive supervision and employee knowledge hiding indeed have a U-shaped relationship such that the moderate level of team abusive supervision triggers the minimum level of employee knowledge hiding. Economic LMX moderates the team abusive supervision-knowledge hiding relationship such that team abusive supervision will associate with less employee knowledge hiding when team has high level rather than low level of economic LMX. Moreover, social LMX moderates the team abusive supervisor-knowledge hiding relationship such that team abusive supervision will relate to more employee knowledge hiding when team has high level rather than low level of social LMX. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.

A Literature Review of Social and Economic Leader–Member Exchange

Leader–member exchange (LMX) research has increasingly relied upon the social exchange theory (SET) as a theoretical foundation, but the dominating way of measuring LMX has not followed this theoretical development (Gottfredson et al., 2020). With the aim of developing a measure that more coherently reflects SET, Kuvaas et al. (2012) conceptualized LMX as two qualitatively different relationships, labeled economic LMX and social LMX. Since the most applied LMX measures are under scrutiny for not being sufficiently grounded in theory (Gottfredson et al., 2020), it may be especially important to expose alternative measures. Therefore, we provide a comprehensive review of the research to date applying a two-dimensional approach to LMX, while also adding to interpretation and suggestions for how we can progress the field even further.

Leader self-efficacy and role ambiguity and follower leader-member exchange

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether leader self-efficacy and leader role ambiguity are related to follower leader-member exchange (LMX). In addition, the authors examine whether the relationship between follower LMX and turnover intention will be mediated by need satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using an electronic survey tool filled out by 109 leaders and 696 followers.FindingsLeader role ambiguity was positively related to an economic LMX relationship and negatively related to a social LMX relationship. Furthermore, the links between social and economic LMX relationships and turnover intention were mediated by satisfaction of the needs for autonomy and relatedness.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study is the cross-sectional nature of the data from the followers.Practical implicationsProvided that the findings are generalizable organizations should provide role clarification initiatives to leaders with high role ambiguity.Originality/valueDespite the centrality of role theory in the development of LMX theory, prior research has not investigated whether the extent to which leaders perceive that they meet the expectations of their leadership roles affects followers’ perception of LMX relationships.

Are we in this together? Knowledge hiding in teams, collective prosocial motivation and leader-member exchange

PurposeAlthough organizations expect employees to share knowledge with each other, knowledge hiding has been documented among coworker dyads. This paper aims to draw on social exchange theory to examine if and why knowledge hiding also occurs in teams.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies, using experimental (115 student participants on 29 teams) and field (309 employees on 92 teams) data, explore the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on knowledge hiding in teams, as well as the moderating role of collective (team-level) prosocial motivation.FindingsThe results of experimental Study 1 showed that collective prosocial motivation and LMX reduce knowledge hiding in teams. Field Study 2 further examined LMX, through its distinctive economic and social facets, and revealed the interaction effect of team prosocial motivation and social LMX on knowledge hiding.Originality/valueThis study complements existing research on knowledge hiding by focusing specifically on the incidence of this phenomenon among members of the same team. This paper presents a multi-level model that explores collective prosocial motivation as a cross-level predictor of knowledge hiding in teams, and examines economic LMX and social LMX as two facets of LMX.

The role of other orientation in reactions to social and economic leader–member exchange relationships

SummaryIn this study, we investigate, through two study samples, whether relationships between social leader–member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader–member exchange (ELMX) relationships and outcomes differ depending on the followers' level of other orientation or the extent to which they are concerned for the welfare of others. We propose that followers with higher other orientation would respond less negatively to higher levels of ELMX and more positively to higher levels of SLMX because they are less likely to engage in behaviors based on rational and self‐interested calculations. In Study 1 (N = 200), we found that higher other orientation mitigated ELMX's negative relations with affective commitment and turnover intention. In Study 2 (N = 4,518), we both replicated the findings from Study 1 and also found that higher other orientation mitigated ELMX's negative relations with work effort. We also uncovered a weaker positive relationship between SLMX and organizational citizenship behavior for followers with higher other orientation.

The Role of Other Orientation in Reactions to Social and Economic LMX Relationships

This study explored, through two study samples, whether follower reactions to social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX) relationships differ depending on their...

Leader‐Member Exchange Relationships and Follower Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Perceiving Goals as Invariable

AbstractIn the present study, we investigated whether perceiving goals as invariable mediated the link between leader‐member exchange (LMX) relationships and role overload, turnover intention, and work performance. Perceiving goals as invariable refers to the extent to which followers believe that the goals in a performance management system represent the absolute standards that they must meet without exception, even if they think other factors are more important (e.g., situational factors or factors that are not associated with goals). In Study 1, perceiving goals as invariable mediated the relationships between LMX and role overload and turnover intention, such that a high‐quality LMX relationship was negatively associated with perceiving goals as invariable, which in turn was positively related to both role overload and turnover intention. In Study 2, social LMX was negatively associated and economic LMX was positively associated with perceiving goals as invariable, which in turn was negatively related to work performance. Furthermore, perceiving goals as invariable mediated the relationship between social LMX relationships and work performance. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Knowledge donating and knowledge collecting

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting is moderated by social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX).Design/methodology/approach– Data were obtained from 227 employee-leader dyads from four Norwegian organizations. Hierarchical moderated regression was used to test the hypotheses.Findings– Even though the authors observed a positive relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting, the moderation analysis revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of SLMX relationships.Research limitations/implications– The data were cross-sectional, thus prohibiting causal inferences.Practical implications– SLMX relationships may be particularly important for the facilitation of knowledge exchange. Managers may draw on this finding to develop their relationships with employees by means of relationship-oriented behaviors.Originality/value– Given the importance of knowledge-sharing processes, a better understanding of the conditions under which knowledge donating related to knowledge collecting is particularly important. The present study advances knowledge on SLMX and ELMX relationships by demonstrating how SLMX moderates the association between knowledge donating and knowledge collecting.

"Team-level knowledge hiding, social leader-member exchange, and prosocial motivation"

Unfortunately, knowledge hiding among employees frequently occurs in today’s competitive organizational realities, and is a pressing matter at the workplace. It has been documented at the individua...

If and when social and economic leader-member exchange relationships predict follower work effort

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX) as two separate dimensions of leader-member exchange, and examines how intrinsic work motivation moderates their relationship with follower work effort. Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained from 352 employee-leader dyads from the public health sector in Norway (response rate=61.9 percent). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the relationship between subordinate rated SLMX and ELMX relationships and leader ratings of work effort. Findings – This study replicates prior research showing that SLMX is positively related and ELMX negatively related to followers’ work effort. A significant interaction between SLMX and intrinsic motivation is also revealed, suggesting that SLMX relationships are important with respect to work effort for followers who exhibit lower levels of intrinsic work motivation. Research limitations/implications – The data were cross-sectional, thus prohibiting causal inferences. Practical implications – SLMX relationships may be particularly important for the work effort of followers low in intrinsic motivation. Leaders may draw on this finding and seek to aid the development of the relationship by means of relationship-oriented behaviors. Originality/value – Given the importance of maximizing the performance of all the followers, a better understanding of the conditions under which SLMX and ELMX relationships relate to work effort is particularly important. The present study advances knowledge on SLMX and ELMX relationships by demonstrating how intrinsic motivation moderates how SLMX and ELMX relationships relate to follower work effort.

Leader–member exchange as a moderator of the relationship between employee–organization exchange and affective commitment

While there is some evidence on the outcomes of employee–organization exchange relationships and leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships, less is known about their combined role as predictors of employee outcomes. Relying on a recent conceptualization of social leader–member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader–member exchange (ELMX) as two separate dimensions of LMX, the present study explored whether SLMX and ELMX moderate the associations between organizational social and economic exchange and affective commitment. The main finding was that the association between organizational economic exchange and affective commitment is attenuated by SLMX. In addition, a positive association between intrinsic motivation and affective commitment was also unveiled, suggesting that affective commitment is not only determined by the prosocial motivation emanating from social exchange relationships, but also from the intrinsic motivation inherent in the work itself.