Blaming leaders for team relationship conflict? The roles of leader-member exchange differentiation and ethical leadership

Mingjian Zhou and Shuisheng Shi

Nankai Business Review International, 2014, vol. 5, issue 2, 134-146

Abstract: Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to extend our understanding of the role of leaders in team relationship conflict. Leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation was hypothesized to be positively related to team relationship conflict. Additionally, ethical leadership was hypothesized to moderate relations between LMX differentiation and team relationship conflict. Design/methodology/approach - – Hypotheses were examined in a sample of 79 working teams. Data were collected via a questionnaire containing measures of LMX, team relationship conflict and ethical leadership. Findings - – Hypotheses were supported by the data. LMX differentiation was positively related to team relationship conflict, and ethical leadership weakened the relationship between LMX differentiation and team relationship conflict. Originality/value - – This is the first theoretical analysis and empirical study of relationships between LMX differentiation and team relationship conflict. Theoretically, by using LMX theory to account for team-level outcomes, this study extended power of LMX theory. Practically, these results suggest that leaders may be responsible for team relationship conflict.

Keywords: Ethical leadership; Leader-member exchange differentiation; Team relationship conflict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:nbripp:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:134-146

DOI: 10.1108/NBRI-09-2013-0036

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