What are the career implications of ‘seeing eye to eye’? Examining the role of leader‐member exchange (LMX) agreement on employability and career outcomes

Olga Epitropaki, Anders Friis Marstand, Beatrice van Der Heijden, Nikos Bozionelos (nbozionelos@audencia.com), Nikolaos Mylonopoulos, Claudia M. van Der Heijde, Dora Scholarios, Aslaug Mikkelsen, Izabela Marzec and Piotr Jędrzejowicz
Additional contact information
Olga Epitropaki: Durham University
Anders Friis Marstand: University of London [London]
Beatrice van Der Heijden: Radboud University [Nijmegen], Open University of the Netherlands [Heerlen], UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University = Université de Gand, Hubei University, Kingston University [London]
Nikos Bozionelos: EM - EMLyon Business School
Nikolaos Mylonopoulos: ALBA Graduate Business School [Athens, Greece]
Claudia M. van Der Heijde: UvA - University of Amsterdam [Amsterdam] = Universiteit van Amsterdam
Dora Scholarios: Strathclyde Business School [Glasgow]
Aslaug Mikkelsen: UiS Business School [University of Stavanger] - University of Stavanger
Izabela Marzec: University of Economics in Katowice
Piotr Jędrzejowicz: Gdynia Maritime University

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Abstract: Are there career benefits to leaders and followers agreeing about the quality of their leader‐member exchange (LMX) relationship? Is LMX disagreement always detrimental for a follower's career? Can the examination of LMX agreement as a substantive variable help us cast new light on some of the inconclusive findings of past research on LMX and career outcomes? These questions motivate our research. Using theories of social exchange and sponsorship, and responses from 967 leader–follower dyads of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals in seven European countries, we examined the role of LMX agreement on subjective and objective career outcomes. After conducting polynomial regression combined with response surface analysis, we found that both follower‐rated and leader‐rated employability were higher when the leader agreed with the follower at a high level of LMX (versus a low level of LMX). In case of disagreement, strong support was found for leader‐rated employability being higher when the leader's perceptions of LMX exceeded those of their follower. Furthermore, follower‐rated employability was found to mediate the relationship between LMX (dis)agreement and perceived career success, promotions, salary, and bonuses. Support was also found for the mediating role of leader‐rated employability in the case of perceived career success, promotions, and salary but not for bonuses. Our findings highlight the importance of LMX (dis)agreement for career outcomes and further point to the possibility of employability offering an alternative explanation for the mixed findings of past LMX‐career research.

Keywords: Career outcomes; employability; leader-member exchange agreement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ict
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03464500v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Personnel Psychology, 2021, 74 (4), 799-830 p. ⟨10.1111/peps.12432⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03464500

DOI: 10.1111/peps.12432

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