Effects of relational schema congruence on leader-member exchange

Abstract Drawing on social exchange processes in leader-member exchange (LMX), we posit that expressive relational schema (ERS) and instrumental relational schema (IRS), which refer to knowledge structures in social exchange processes, act as antecedents of follower-rated LMX. Specifically, we discuss how leader-follower relational schema congruence/incongruence informs follower-rated LMX. Using polynomial regression models, we analyze 205 leader-follower dyads and test the congruent/incongruent effects on follower-rated LMX. The findings show that ERS congruence has a positive effect on follower-rated LMX, while IRS congruence has a negative effect on follower-rated LMX. Results also demonstrate that ERS incongruence impairs more follower-rated LMX than does ERS congruence, and IRS incongruence and IRS congruence have the same follower-rated LMX. Implications for LMX theory and research are discussed.

[1]  J. Bartunek,et al.  Social Cognition in Organizational Change: An Insider-Outsider Approach , 1992 .

[2]  J. Bowlby.  Attachment, New York (Basic Books) 1969. , 1969 .

[3]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  Contextual constraints on prototype generation and their multilevel consequences for leadership perceptions , 2001 .

[4]  James H. Dulebohn,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Consequences of Leader-Member Exchange , 2012 .

[5]  D. Rousseau.  Schema, promise and mutuality: The building blocks of the psychological contract , 2001 .

[6]  Robin Martin,et al.  The role of leader-member exchanges in mediating the relationship between locus of control and work reactions , 2005 .

[7]  James W. Smither,et al.  Are Cultural Characteristics Associated with the Relationship between Self and Others' Ratings of Leadership? , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[8]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  Leadership and Information Processing: Linking Perceptions and Performance , 2002 .

[9]  Chester A. Schriesheim,et al.  Delegation and Leader-Member Exchange: Main Effects, Moderators, and Measurement Issues , 1998 .

[10]  Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Protestant Relational Ideology and ( In ) Attention to Relational Cues in Work Settings , 2002 .

[11]  Joe C Magee,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article Power and Perspectives Not Taken , 2022 .

[12]  B. Bass,et al.  The Bass handbook of leadership : theory, research, and managerial applications , 2008 .

[13]  J. Gill.  Hierarchical Linear Models , 2005 .

[14]  Warren C. K. Chiu,et al.  Relational schemas as sources of evaluation and misevaluation of leader–member exchanges: Some initial evidence , 2008 .

[15]  Hock-Peng Sin,et al.  Understanding why they don't see eye to eye: an examination of leader-member exchange (LMX) agreement. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[16]  Thorvald Haerem,et al.  Economic and social leader–member exchange relationships and follower performance , 2012 .

[17]  John M. Maslyn,et al.  Multidimensionafity of Leader-Member Exchange: An Empirical Assessment through Scale Development , 1998 .

[18]  A. Tsui,et al.  Unpacking Employee Responses to Organizational Exchange Mechanisms: The Role of Social and Economic Exchange Perceptions† , 2009 .

[19]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  Dyads in Organizational Research: Conceptual Issues and Multilevel Analyses , 2011 .

[20]  J. B. Shaw.  A Cognitive Categorization Model for the Study of Intercultural Management , 1990 .

[21]  Jeffrey R. Edwards,et al.  On the Use of Polynomial Regression Equations As An Alternative to Difference Scores in Organizational Research , 1993 .

[22]  Raymond T. Sparrowe,et al.  Leader-member exchange theory: The past and potential for the future. , 1997 .

[23]  J. Edwards.  Alternatives to difference scores: Polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology. , 2002 .

[24]  Charlotte R. Gerstner,et al.  Meta-Analytic Review of Leader-Member Exchange Theory: Correlates and Construct Issues , 1997 .

[25]  C. Anderson.  Imagination and expectation: The effect of imagining behavioral scripts on personal influences. , 1983 .

[26]  James P. Walsh,et al.  Selectivity and selective perception: An investigation of managers''belief structures and informatio , 1988 .

[27]  P. Bliese.  Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis. , 2000 .

[28]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  The contracts of individuals and organizations , 1993 .

[29]  D. Hofmann.  An Overview of the Logic and Rationale of Hierarchical Linear Models , 1997 .

[30]  Berrin Erdogan,et al.  A longitudinal study of the moderating role of extraversion: leader-member exchange, performance, and turnover during new executive development. , 2006, The Journal of applied psychology.

[31]  Paul R. Kimmel.  Cultural Perspectives on International Negotiations , 1994 .

[32]  Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks,et al.  Cultural styles, relationship schemas, and prejudice against out-groups. , 2000 .

[33]  J. Meindl,et al.  The romance of leadership as a follower-centric theory: A , 1995 .

[34]  Remus Ilies,et al.  Leader-member exchange and citizenship behaviors: a meta-analysis. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[35]  R. Lord,et al.  Leadership and knowledge: Symbolic, connectionist, and embodied perspectives , 2011 .

[36]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Influence Modes, Schema Change, and Organizational Transformation , 1989 .

[37]  N. Miller,et al.  Social Learning and Imitation , 1942 .

[38]  R. Brislin.  The wording and translation of research instruments. , 1986 .

[39]  Thomas Sy,et al.  What do you think of followers? Examining the content, structure, and consequences of implicit followership theories , 2010 .

[40]  Mo Wang,et al.  Leader-follower congruence in proactive personality and work outcomes: The mediating role of leader-member exchange , 2012 .

[41]  Robin Martin,et al.  From ideal to real: a longitudinal study of the role of implicit leadership theories on leader-member exchanges and employee outcomes. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[42]  J. Walsh.  Managerial and Organizational Cognition: Notes from a Trip Down Memory Lane , 1995 .

[43]  H. Ibarra.  Homophily and differential returns: Sex differences in network structure and access in an advertising firm. , 1992 .

[44]  Deepayan Sarkar,et al.  Lattice: Multivariate Data Visualization with R , 2008 .

[45]  R. Nisbett,et al.  Cultural styles, relational schemas, and prejudice against out-groups. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[46]  Donald E. Conlon,et al.  Does Seeing “Eye To Eye” Affect Work Engagement and Organizational Citizenship Behavior? A Role Theory Perspective on LMX Agreement , 2014 .

[47]  Shelley D. Dionne,et al.  A 25-year perspective on levels of analysis in leadership research , 2014 .

[48]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  What Have We Learned That Is Critical in Understanding Leadership Perceptions and Leader-Performance Relations? , 2014, Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

[49]  Raymond T. Sparrowe,et al.  Process and Structure in Leader-Member Exchange , 1997 .

[50]  Mark W. Baldwin,et al.  Relational schemas and the processing of social information. , 1992 .

[51]  J. Bowlby.  Attachment and loss: retrospect and prospect. , 1969, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[52]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  Leader–member exchange, shared values, and performance: Agreement and levels of analysis do matter , 2010 .

[53]  K. Fujita,et al.  Stereotype performance boosts: the impact of self-relevance and the manner of stereotype activation. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[54]  C. H. Hansen.  Priming Sex-Role Stereotypic Event Schemas With Rock Music Videos: Effects on Impression Favorability, Trait Inferences, and Recall of a Subsequent Male-Female Interaction , 1989 .

[55]  Katia Puente-Palacios,et al.  Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations: foundations, extensions, and new directions , 2003 .

[56]  G. Graen,et al.  Toward a psychology of dyadic organizing. , 1987 .

[57]  G. Graen,et al.  Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective , 1995 .

[58]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  DOES SELF‐OTHER AGREEMENT ON LEADERSHIP PERCEPTIONS MODERATE THE VALIDITY OF LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS? , 1992 .

[59]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  Prototypes and scripts: The effects of alternative methods of processing information on rating accuracy , 1987 .

[60]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Accretion, tuning and restructuring: Three modes of learning , 1976 .

[61]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  Implicit theories, self-schemas, and leader-member exchange , 1997 .

[62]  Phillip W. Braddy,et al.  Self–other rating agreement in leadership: A review. , 2010 .

[63]  S. Kozlowski,et al.  Multilevel Theory, Research, a n d M e t h o d s i n Organizations Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions , 2022 .

[64]  Yves Rosseel,et al.  lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling , 2012 .

[65]  Lois E. Tetrick,et al.  Social and Economic Exchange: Construct Development and Validation. , 2006 .

[66]  R. Liden,et al.  Leader-Member Exchange Model of Leadership: A Critique and Further Development , 1986 .

[67]  Tiffany Keller.  Parental images as a guide to leadership sensemaking: an attachment perspective on implicit leadership theories , 2003 .

[68]  A. Topakas,et al.  Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories “in the wild”: Taking stock of information-processing approaches to leadership and followership in organizational settings , 2013 .

[69]  Jessica E. Dinh,et al.  Developments in implicit leadership theory and cognitive science: Applications to improving measurement and understanding alternatives to hierarchical leadership , 2010 .

[70]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  Multi-level nature of and multi-level approaches to leadership. , 2008 .

[71]  Aline G. Sayer.  Hierarchical Linear Models I ICPSR 2014 , 2011 .

[72]  C. Schriesheim,et al.  Balance in leader and follower perceptions of leader-member exchange: Relationships with performance and work attitudes , 2009 .

[73]  A. Tsui,et al.  Beyond Simple Demographic Effects: The Importance of Relational Demography in Superior-Subordinate Dyads , 1989 .

[74]  Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks,et al.  Performance in intercultural interactions at work: cross-cultural differences in response to behavioral mirroring. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[75]  Robert G. Lord,et al.  Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives , 2014 .

[76]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  The Leader–Member Exchange Relationship , 2016 .

[77]  R. Lord,et al.  Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories: Dynamic Structures for Leadership Perceptions, Memory, Leader‐Follower Processes , 2010 .

[78]  D. Rumelhart.  Schemata: The Building Blocks of Cognition , 2017 .

[79]  Robin Martin,et al.  Implicit leadership theories in applied settings: factor structure, generalizability, and stability over time. , 2004, The Journal of applied psychology.

[80]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Social Cognition, from Brains to Culture , 1984 .

[81]  F. Yammarino,et al.  Asian Americans and Leadership , 1998 .

[82]  Janaki Gooty,et al.  Use and misuse of levels of analysis in leadership research: An illustrative review of leader–member exchange , 2012 .

[83]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Scripts in Organizational Behavior , 1984 .

[84]  Allan Bird,et al.  Beyond sophisticated stereotyping: Cultural sensemaking in context , 2000 .

[85]  Gabor Grothendieck,et al.  Lattice: Multivariate Data Visualization with R , 2008 .

[86]  P. Blau.  Exchange and Power in Social Life , 1964 .

[87]  Mark W. Baldwin,et al.  Relational Schemas as a Source of If–Then Self-Inference Procedures , 1997 .

[88]  Eric D. Heggestad,et al.  Polynomial Regression with Response Surface Analysis: A Powerful Approach for Examining Moderation and Overcoming Limitations of Difference Scores , 2010 .

[89]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[90]  Daniel J. Brass,et al.  A Grounded Model of Organizational Schema Change During Empowerment , 2000 .

[91]  C. Schriesheim,et al.  Leader–member exchange (LMX) research: A comprehensive review of theory, measurement, and data-analytic practices. , 1999 .

[92]  William J. Haga,et al.  A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership within formal organizations: A longitudinal investigation of the role making process , 1975 .

[93]  C. Schriesheim,et al.  Quantitative and qualitative examination of propositions concerning supervisor-subordinate convergence in descriptions of leader-member exchange (LMX) quality , 2010 .

[94]  Charles C. Manz,et al.  Linking Cognition and Behavior: A Script Processing Interpretation of Vicarious Learning , 1985 .