Differentiated leader-member exchanges: the buffering role of justice climate.

The leader-member exchange (LMX) literature has established that leaders differentiate among their followers. Yet little is known about the effects of LMX differentiation (within-group variation in LMX quality). In this study, we contend that the effects of LMX differentiation on the employee outcomes of work attitudes, coworker relations, and employee withdrawal behaviors will be contingent upon the level of procedural and distributive justice climate. Data from 276 employees working in 25 stores of a retail chain in Turkey supported our hypotheses such that LMX differentiation was related to more negative work attitudes and coworker relations, and higher levels of withdrawal behaviors only when justice climate was low.

[1]  B. Schneider,et al.  Climate strength: a new direction for climate research. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[2]  Christopher L. Martin,et al.  A Multilevel Analysis of Procedural Justice Context , 1998 .

[3]  Melenie J. Lankau,et al.  Developing diverse leaders: A Leader-Member Exchange approach , 1996 .

[4]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[5]  Cortlandt Cammann,et al.  Assessing the attitudes and perceptions of organizational members , 1983 .

[6]  Jane M. Howell,et al.  Leader–member exchange in teams: An examination of the interaction between relationship differentiation and mean LMX in explaining team-level outcomes , 2006 .

[7]  Jixia Yang,et al.  Procedural justice climate and group power distance: an examination of cross-level interaction effects. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[8]  Q. Roberson.  Justice in Teams: The Effects of Interdependence and Identification on Referent Choice and Justice Climate Strength , 2006 .

[9]  R. Brislin.  Cross-cultural research methods , 1973 .

[10]  Donald E. Conlon,et al.  Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[11]  Birgit Schyns,et al.  Are Group Consensus in Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Shared Work Values Related to Organizational Outcomes? , 2006 .

[12]  T. Tyler,et al.  The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice , 1988 .

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

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

[15]  F. Morgeson,et al.  The development of leader-member exchanges: Exploring how personality and performance influence leader and member relationships over time , 2009 .

[16]  Quinetta M. Roberson,et al.  Justice in teams : The activation and role of sensemaking in the emergence of justice climates , 2006 .

[17]  Harry C. Hui,et al.  Deciding on equity or parity: a test of situational, cultural, and individual factors , 1998 .

[18]  Jennifer M. George,et al.  Personality, affect, and behavior in groups. , 1990 .

[19]  J. Peiró,et al.  Relationships Between Organizational Justice and Burnout at the Work-Unit Level. , 2005 .

[20]  Raymond T. Sparrowe,et al.  Leader‐member exchange, differentiation, and task interdependence: implications for individual and group performance , 2006 .

[21]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[22]  G. Leventhal.  What Should Be Done with Equity Theory? New Approaches to the Study of Fairness in Social Relationships. , 1976 .

[23]  S. Green,et al.  Coworker exchange: relationships between coworkers, leader-member exchange, and work attitudes. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[24]  John L. Cotton,et al.  Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research , 1986 .

[25]  C. Cooper,et al.  International review of industrial and organizational psychology , 1986 .

[26]  W. E. Mcclane,et al.  Implications of Member Role Differentiation , 1991 .

[27]  Paul E. Levy,et al.  The Relationship Between Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Attitudes, Strain, and Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Examination , 2009 .

[28]  M. Uhl‐Bien,et al.  Leader-member exchange and its dimensions: effects of self-effort and other's effort on relationship quality. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[29]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  An Alternative Approach: The Unfolding Model of Voluntary Employee Turnover , 1994 .

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

[31]  David J. Henderson,et al.  LMX Differentiation: A Multilevel Review and Examination of its Antecedents and Outcomes , 2009 .

[32]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[33]  Todd J. Arnold,et al.  A Multi-Level Analysis of Organizational Justice Climate, Structure, and Employee Mental Health† , 2007 .

[34]  G. Graen,et al.  Moderating effects of initial leader–member exchange status on the effects of a leadership intervention. , 1984 .

[35]  Anthony S. Bryk,et al.  Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods , 1992 .

[36]  D. Duchon,et al.  Vertical dyad linkage: A longitudinal assessment of antecedents, measures, and consequences. , 1986 .

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

[38]  R. H. Moorman,et al.  JUSTICE AS A MEDIATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METHODS OF MONITORING AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR , 1993 .

[39]  Patricia M. Sias,et al.  Differential Superior-Subordinate Relations, Perceptions of Fairness, and Coworker Communication , 1995 .

[40]  Roel Bosker,et al.  Multilevel analysis : an introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling , 1999 .

[41]  S. Robinson,et al.  THE IMP ACT OF COMMUNITY VIOLENCE AND AN ORGANIZATION ' S PROCEDURAL JUSTICE CLIMATE ON WORKPLACE AGGRESSION , 2003 .

[42]  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 .

[43]  Quinetta M. Roberson,et al.  Justice in Teams: A Review of Fairness Effects in Collective Contexts , 2005 .

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

[45]  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.

[46]  Randall P. Settoon,et al.  A Relational Perspective on Turnover: Examining Structural, Attitudinal, and Behavioral Predictors , 2005 .

[47]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  Self-interest and other-orientation in organizational behavior: implications for job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[48]  Robin Martin,et al.  Beyond personal Leader Member Exchange (LMX) quality: the effects of perceived LMX variability on employee reactions , 2008 .

[49]  P. Degoey.  Contagious Justice: Exploring The Social Construction of Justice in Organizations , 2000 .

[50]  Berrin Erdogan,et al.  Justice and Leader-Member Exchange: The Moderating Role of Organizational Culture , 2006 .

[51]  G. Graen,et al.  Generalizability of the vertical dyad linkage model of leadership. , 1980 .

[52]  Chester A. Schriesheim,et al.  Leader-Member Exchange and Supervisor Career Mentoring as Complementary Constructs in Leadership Research , 1994 .

[53]  R. J. House,et al.  The Social Scientific Study of Leadership: Quo Vadis? , 1997 .

[54]  William H. Glick,et al.  Conceptualizing and Measuring Organizational and Psychological Climate: Pitfalls in Multilevel Research , 1985 .

[55]  Tony Simons,et al.  Why managers should care about fairness: the effects of aggregate justice perceptions on organizational outcomes. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[56]  David J. Henderson,et al.  Leader--member exchange, differentiation, and psychological contract fulfillment: a multilevel examination. , 2008, The Journal of applied psychology.

[57]  David M. Mayer,et al.  Do inclusive leaders help to reduce turnover in diverse groups? The moderating role of leader-member exchange in the diversity to turnover relationship. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[58]  T. Scandura.  Rethinking leader-member exchange: An organizational justice perspective , 1999 .

[59]  Kanika T. Bhal,et al.  Leader‐member exchange‐subordinate outcomes relationship: role of voice and justice , 2007 .

[60]  B. Schneider.  THE PEOPLE MAKE THE PLACE , 1987 .

[61]  Quinetta M. Roberson,et al.  Shared and Configural Justice: A Social Network Model of Justice in Teams , 2005 .

[62]  S. Kozlowski,et al.  Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations: Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions , 2000 .

[63]  R. H. Willis,et al.  Social Exchange: Advances In Theory And Research , 1981 .

[64]  Paul E. Spector.  Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Survey , 1985, American journal of community psychology.

[65]  J. Pfeffer,et al.  A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. , 1978, Administrative science quarterly.

[66]  Lois E. Tetrick,et al.  The role of fair treatment and rewards in perceptions of organizational support and leader-member exchange. , 2002 .

[67]  Nathan Bennett,et al.  A Case for Procedural Justice Climate: Development and Test of a Multilevel Model. , 2000 .

[68]  Philip H. Mirvis,et al.  Assessing organizational change : a guide to methods, measures, and practices , 1984 .

[69]  Derek R. Avery,et al.  Engaging the aging workforce: the relationship between perceived age similarity, satisfaction with coworkers, and employee engagement. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[70]  L. James.  Aggregation Bias in Estimates of Perceptual Agreement. , 1982 .

[71]  John P. Meyer,et al.  The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization , 1990 .

[72]  Raymond T. Sparrowe,et al.  Two Routes to Influence: Integrating Leader-Member Exchange and Social Network Perspectives , 2005 .

[73]  Alper Ertürk,et al.  Increasing organizational citizenship behaviors of Turkish academicians , 2007 .

[74]  Development of Leader-Member Exchange: A Longitudinal Test , 1996 .

[75]  H. Liao,et al.  The impact of justice climate and justice orientation on work outcomes: a cross-level multifoci framework. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[76]  Dishan Kamdar,et al.  Me or We? The Role of Personality and Justice as Other-Centered Antecedents to Innovative Citizenship Behaviors within Organizations , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[77]  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 .

[78]  Lucy R. Ford,et al.  Relational leadership and team climates: Pitting differentiation versus agreement , 2006 .

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

[80]  R. Cropanzano,et al.  Fairness at the Group Level: Justice Climate and Intraunit Justice Climate , 2009 .

[81]  Gerald R. Ferris,et al.  Relationships at Work: Toward a Multidimensional Conceptualization of Dyadic Work Relationships , 2009 .

[82]  L. James,et al.  Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. , 1984 .

[83]  Raymond A. Noe,et al.  JUSTICE IN TEAMS: ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE CLIMATE , 2002 .

[84]  D. Chan.  Functional Relations among Constructs in the Same Content Domain at Different Levels of Analysis: A Typology of Composition Models , 1998 .

[85]  L. J. Williams,et al.  Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship and In-Role Behaviors , 1991 .

[86]  A. Topakas,et al.  A review of leader-member exchange research: future prospects and directions , 2010 .

[87]  Berrin Erdogan,et al.  WORK VALUE CONGRUENCE AND INTRINSIC CAREER SUCCESS: THE COMPENSATORY ROLES OF LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE AND PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT , 2004 .

[88]  M. Evans.  A Monte Carlo study of the effects of correlated method variance in moderated multiple regression analysis , 1985 .

[89]  Olenda E. Johnson,et al.  Leader—Member Exchange as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Work Group Diversity and Team Performance , 2009 .

[90]  David A. Hofmann,et al.  Centering Decisions in Hierarchical Linear Models: Implications for Research in Organizations , 1998 .

[91]  T. Bauer,et al.  Perceived overqualification and its outcomes: the moderating role of empowerment. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[92]  Amy Buhl Conn,et al.  Is everyone in agreement? An exploration of within-group agreement in employee perceptions of the work environment. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[93]  Terri A. Scandura,et al.  Leader–member exchange (LMX), paternalism, and delegation in the Turkish business culture: An empirical investigation , 2006 .

[94]  M. Bolino,et al.  Relative deprivation among employees in lower-quality leader-member exchange relationships , 2009 .

[95]  Birgit Schyns,et al.  Leader-Member Exchange Theory and Research: Accomplishments and Future Challenges , 2006 .