Multilevel Research On Leader-Member Exchange Relationship From Social Resource Exchange Perspective

As the team has increasingly become the cornerstone of the modern organizational structure,the interactive relationship between leaders and members,which are the main participants of the team,has always been the focus of attention of management scholars.Existing research mostly discusses the antecedents and outcome variables of the leader-member exchange(LMX)from a single level,and pays more attention to the impact of the exchange relationship on the leaders and subordinates themselves.In addition,current research ignores the multilevel impact of LMX in the organization.Also,LMX may affect other subjects other than leaders and subordinates.In order to make up for the shortcomings of the existing research,this thesis from multilevel perspective explores how the perceptions of exchange relationship among different individuals influence others' attitudes and behaviors through social resource exchange.This thesis mainly contains two studies.At the individual level and the team level,Study 1 investigates how leader's upward exchange relationship has spillover effects along organizational structure,and then affects customer satisfaction outside the organization via employees' professional commitment.At the dyadic level,Study 2 focuses on the congruence in leaders' and members' perception of LMX and investigates the impact of LMX agreement on other members within the team via subordinates' perception of supervisory support and team conflict.This thesis uses samples from two research scenarios(i.e.,service industry and manufacturing)to conduct multi-level research.First,through empirical analysis of 192 director questionnaires and 1,307 doctor questionnaires from 12 top hospitals,it was found that at the individual level,LMX positively affects the members' professional commitment,which in turn affects customer satisfaction;the employees' professional commitment mediates the relationship between LMX and customer satisfaction.At the team level,the superior leader-organizational leader exchange(LLX)positively affects team empowerment;team empowerment reduces team's LMX differentiation;team empowerment mediates the relationship between LLX and team's LMX differentiation.At the cross-level,the superior LLX positively affects the individual LMX.And team's LMX differentiation negatively moderates the indirect effect of LMX on customer satisfaction via professional commitment.That is,when team's LMX differentiation is lower,the indirect effect of professional commitment is stronger.Secondly,through the analysis of 318 leader-member dyadic data of 43 teams in a traditional manufacturing company,it was found that the more agreement between a leader's and a member's perception of LMX,subordinates perceived the more professional support and emotional support from the leader.The perceived supervisory support resulting from LMX agreement would impact the other members within the team by providing social support to colleagues.Perceived supervisory support mediates the effect of LMX agreement on colleagues' perceived social support.In addition,the more agreement between a leader's and a member's perception of LMX,subordinates perceived the less team conflict.The perceived team conflict resulting from LMX agreement would impact the other members within the team by undermining colleagues.Perceived team task conflict mediates the effect of LMX agreement on colleagues' perceived social undermining.This thesis has important theoretical contributions to the field of LMX.First,this thesis expands the existing research level by using two different research scenarios to explore the multilevel exchange relationship,respectively at the individual level,team level,and dyadic level.It strengthens the understanding of LMX in shaping positive organizational behavior.Second,this thesis reveals that leader's upward exchange relationship has spillover effects along organizational hierarchy to the downward exchange relationship,that is,the high-level exchange relationship(LLX)impacts the low-level exchange relationship(LMX).Third,by introducing the third party beyond the dyads,the scope of influence of LMX on the organizational functioning is expanded,and the mediating mechanism is investigated.This thesis explores the impact of LMX on other members within the team and customers outside the organization.Specifically,it reveals the effect of the LMX on customer satisfaction outside the organization,and the impact of LMX agreement on subordinates' social support or social undermining to colleagues.Fourth,based on the dyadic perspective,this thesis explores the impact of congruence/ incongruence in leaders' and members' perception of LMX quality on the behaviors of team members,which deepens the understanding of “high-quality” exchange relationships,and clarifies the importance of congruence.In order to deepen the understanding of the role of LMX agreement,this thesis focuses on the impact of LMX agreement on subordinates' perceived supervisory support and team conflict.