Reversing the lens: How followers influence leader–member exchange quality

Employee proactive behaviors and LMX from a reverse lens perspective: the mediator role of leader perceived constructiveness

Drawing on social resources theory and social exchange theory, we propose that two forms of employee proactive behaviors, namely voice and taking charge, influence a leader's perception of their employees and hence affect the interpersonal relationships within the dyad. We introduce an expanded construct, termed as the leader perceived constructiveness, as a mediating mechanism that links the effects. We further propose two conditional factors that also govern the effects. Pairwise data collected from Taiwanese employees and supervisors in two separate studies provide support for the theorized hypotheses and confirm that the indirect relationship between employees' proactive behaviors and leader–member exchange (LMX) is augmented by their past performance. Our study advances the literature by adopting a more follower-centered framework. Moreover, by demonstrating how and when employee-initiated behaviors affect upwardly and improve the dyad outcome, we also contribute to the LMX literature and provide useful insights for managerial practice.

Exploring the roles and challenges of the servant leadership: A critical examination of the Bangladesh police

The police work relentlessly to control national, transnational, and economic cybercrimes despite the numerous internal, external, mental, physical, political, and social problems they face. This study attempted to assess the servant leadership (SL) roles of the police and the challenges they face with regard to SL practice. Using a self-directed survey questionnaire, the current study collected open-ended responses from 88 Bangladesh Police (BP) personnel ranking from Assistant Superintendent of Police to Additional Deputy Inspector General. The authors identified the SL roles of police, such as terrorism control, judicial assistance, empowering subordinates, engaging the community, police-media relationship, and contributing to the national economy. Besides, the participant observation method was used to explore several challenges that the police face in regard to SL practice, such as long working hours, inadequate logistical support, work stress, insufficient compensation package, and unfair promotion & performance appraisal system. This study recommended increasing cooperation among top and bottom-line police, including bottom-line police in decision-making authority, providing adequate logistic support and training and development opportunities to the police personnel, and ensuring fair promotion and performance appraisal system for the police.

Does follower role orientation impact leader-directed outcomes? An exploration of the indirect effects of follower role orientation on influence and leader effectiveness

Follower role orientations affect how followers approach the leadership process; however, there has been little insight into how individuals use these role beliefs to influence leader outcomes, particularly through their psychological and social leader-follower relationships. This research examines how co-production, passive, and anti-authoritarian follower role orientations affect a follower's influence on their leader and leader effectiveness indirectly through psychological closeness and relationship quality. The results from two studies suggest co-production role orientation had positive effects on influence on the leader through psychological closeness and on perceived leader effectiveness through closeness and leader-member exchange. Passive role orientation was negatively related to followers' influence on the leader through reduced psychological closeness in study 1, while anti-authoritarian role beliefs were negatively related to closeness in study 2. These findings suggest that when followers believe co-production is critical to the leadership process, closeness with the leader, relationship quality, and perceived leader effectiveness improve.

Leader–follower interpersonal behaviors, emotional regulation and LMX quality

We investigate how a leader's perception of a follower's behaviours may impact the follower's perception of a leader's behaviours which in turn may relate to a leader's rating of the LMX quality. Multilevel multisource data were collected from 315 leader–member dyads in 27 military teams. At the dyadic level, a leader's perception of a follower was related to the follower's assessment of a leader's behaviours, which in turn, was positively related to how the leader rated their LMX quality. Finally, the leaders' emotional reappraisal moderated the link between a follower's perception of the leader's behaviours and leader rated LMX quality. LMX research continues to interrogate the role of the follower in the leader–follower process. The study sheds further light on how followers contribute to the leadership process.

A Followership Approach to Leadership

Abstract. Leadership research has privileged leaders' active role in shaping leader–follower interactions, whereas much less attention has been given to how followers interact with leaders. We propose that leader–member exchange (LMX) mediates the relationship between followership and employee behaviors. We also suggest that top management openness (TMO) moderates these relationships. With a sample of 769 supervisor–subordinate dyads, we examined the role of followership and contextual variables on LMX and outcomes. We found that LMX mediates the relationship between proactive followership and voice and that this relationship was significant only when TMO was high. These findings suggest that followers play an active role in the leadership process and that to stimulate voice one should consider two levels of analysis: followers and leaders.

The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Relational Crafting on Job Well-Being

Is relational crafting always beneficial? Despite the increasing research on the positive outcomes of relational crafting, some evidence still indicates its dysfunctional consequences. The current study proposed a double-edged sword effect of relational crafting on job well-being, including work dynamics and emotional exhaustion, with an integrative perspective from the resource loss and resource acquisition perspectives based on the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources theory. By conducting a two-stage questionnaire survey on 323 employees, the results demonstrate that: (1) On the one hand, relational crafting induces emotional exhaustion through increased work load; (2) On the other hand, relational crafting also displays positive effect on increasing work dynamics and decreasing emotional exhaustion by fostering supervisor-subordinate guanxi. By analyzing the double-edged sword effect of subordinates’ relational crafting on job well-being from the two processes of resource loss and resource acquisition effects, a more complete influencing mechanism between relational crafting and job well-being is constructed, which improves the understanding of relational crafting, enriches the literature on proactive behavior and provides a more integrated theoretical basis for researchers and managers.

Ethical leadership, perceived leader–member ethical communication and organizational citizenship behavior: development and validation of a multilevel model

Purpose

This study provides a systematic testing of ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by examining the underlying mechanisms of leader motivation language on ethics through which ethical leadership influences followers’ OCB at the team level.

Design/methodology/approach

A multilevel model was validated via with structural equation modeling (SEM) from hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) based on data collected in a Malaysian organization.

Findings

The perceived leader–member ethical communication at the team-level makes a unique contribution beyond the ethical leadership in explaining OCBs.

Originality/value

Perceived leader–member ethical communication mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB.

Followers' unclear demands during the COVID-19 pandemic can undermine leaders' well-being: A moderated mediation model from an entrapment perspective

Although effective leaders are important for reducing employee stress during the COVID-19, limited studies have examined how follower behaviors can influence leader stress and well-being during the COVID-19. This study draws on defeat-entrapment theory to examine how followers' unclear demands during the COVID-19 consequently impact leaders' psychological states and well-being. We conducted a three-wave time-lagged investigation with a sample of 281 leaders in the United Kingdom and found that followers' unclear demands could generate feelings of entrapment in leaders, leading to decreased levels of well-being outcomes in leaders. Importantly, we found that leaders who have higher levels of leadership responsibility during the COVID-19 are likely to feel trapped by followers' unclear demands. They are also likely to face higher levels of feelings of entrapment and impaired well-being compared with leaders who have lower levels of leadership responsibility. We discuss the implications for theories and practices, as well as directions for future research.

What leaders tell and employees hear – an intention-perception model of storytelling in leadership

Purpose

Storytelling is considered an effective leadership behavior. However, research on storytelling’s effects on followers is scarce and disconnected from leadership theory. This paper aims to explore the perspectives of both leaders and followers with a focus on interaction-based moderators and affective mediators of storytelling effects, building on transformational leadership and leader-member exchange theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from semi-structured interviews (N = 27 independent leaders and followers) were analyzed with a combined content-analytic and grounded theory approach.

Findings

Leaders’ intended effects of storytelling (transformation, relationship and information) evoked either positive or negative affective reactions in followers depending on how well the story met followers’ needs (need-supply fit), the adequacy of the input load transported by the story (story load) and how followers interpreted their leaders’ story (story appraisal). Followers’ positive or negative affective reactions translated into positive effects (corresponding to leaders’ intended effects) or negative effects (contradicting leaders’ intended effects), respectively. Results were integrated into an intention-perception model of storytelling.

Originality/value

Proposing an intention-perception model of storytelling, this paper explains when and why unintended effects of storytelling happen, and thus provides an alternative view to the one-fits-all approach on leaders’ storytelling advocated by popular management literature.

Leader-Follower Congruence in Work Engagement and Leader-Member Exchange: The Moderating Role of Conscientiousness of Followers

Extant research has investigated the relationship between work engagement and various outcomes, such as job performance and organizational commitment, neglecting the effect of work engagement on social relationships at work. Drawing upon person-environment fit theory and LMX theory, the present study aims to examine the effect of (in)congruence between leader and follower work engagement on leader–member exchange (LMX) and the moderating effect of conscientiousness. About 273 employees and 72 leaders participated in this study and completed the measurements of work engagement, conscientiousness, and LMX at two time points. Using cross-level polynomial regressions, we found that, compared with incongruent work engagement, employees perceived high levels of LMX quality when their work engagement was aligned with that of their leaders. Regarding the congruence, the employees reported higher levels of LMX when congruence in work engagement was at higher rather than lower levels. Regarding the incongruence, when the employees engaged less in their work tasks than their leaders, they were more likely to experience lower LMX. Moreover, the negative relationship between incongruence in leader and follower work engagement and LMX was mitigated when followers were more conscientious. All our hypotheses were supported. Both theoretical and practical implications for work engagement as well as future directions are discussed.

How and When Does Psychological Wellbeing Contribute to Proactive Performance? The Role of Social Resources and Job Characteristics

Are psychologically healthy employees more proactive at work? Surprisingly, responses to this question are lacking as empirical research has overlooked the wellbeing–proactive performance relationship. Drawing insights from the conservation of resources theory and the motivational fit perspective, this study proposes that leader-member exchange and team-member exchange act as social resources that convey the benefits of psychological wellbeing to subsequent proactive performance. Moreover, job complexity and task interdependence—two job characteristics that enhance the motivational potential of social resources—are expected to amplify these positive indirect relationships. Data from a three-wave, time-lagged study conducted among employees (N = 318) from French-Canadian organizations were used to test our hypothesized model. The results indicated that leader-member exchange mediated a positive relationship between wellbeing and proactive performance and that the contribution of wellbeing to proactive performance via leader-member exchange was increased when job complexity was higher. We also found a negative indirect relationship between wellbeing and proactive performance via team-member exchange when team interdependence was lower. Theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed.