| The study of leadership exchanges is extended by investigating the role of leader emotional expression (LEE) in leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships. A laboratory experiment was conducted to explore the effects of three LEE conditions, positive, neutral and negative, and leader gender, on four dimensions of LMX; affect (LMXA), contribution (LMXC), loyalty (LMXL) and professional respect (LMXPR). Participant members attended two work sessions, engaging in creative tasks at one session and repetitive, manual tasks at the other. Relationships between LEE, leader gender and LMX were explored along with their influence on performance on two task types, members' affective states, satisfaction, self-efficacy and persistence intentions. LEE was not associated with members' reported affective states. LEE was found to have a significant effect on each of the LMX dimensions. However, when controlling for LMXA, LEE's effects on the other dimensions were no longer evident. Leader gender was found to moderate the LEE-LMX relationship; expressive male leaders received higher ratings in the positive LEE condition and lower ratings in the negative LEE condition than did similarly expressive female leaders. While LMX predicted attitudinal outcome variables, LEE did not. However, LEE was associated with member performance while LMX was not. These findings point to the merit of continued investigation of LEE and its effects in formative LMX relationships and on member performance. |
