PREDICTING EMPLOYEE-SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIP STRENGTH (LMX): DOES A SINGLE MOMENT MATTER?

Reynolds, Allison J.

PREDICTING EMPLOYEE-SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIP STRENGTH (LMX): DOES A SINGLE MOMENT MATTER?

dc.contributor.advisor	Steinheider, Brigitte
dc.contributor.author	Reynolds, Allison J.
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Worley, Jody
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Young, William
dc.date.accessioned	2020-05-11T20:20:17Z
dc.date.available	2020-05-11T20:20:17Z
dc.date.issued	2020-05-08
dc.date.manuscript	2020-04-24
dc.description.abstract	Abstract The leader-member exchange (LMX; Dansereau et al., 1975) theory explains how employee-supervisor relationships form and posits that relationship strength will be established through communication-based exchanges over time as supported by the social exchange theory (SET; Blau, 1964; Homans, 1958). The conceptual framework of anchoring events (AEs; Ballinger & Rockmann, 2010) proposes that a single exchange may impact the strength of the relationship but has yet to be empirically tested. This study examines 1) employees’ descriptions of AEs and their perceived impact; 2) whether positive and negative AEs’ impact predicts LMX; and 3) if AEs account for significant variance in LMX over and above communication frequency. Participants (N = 367) consisted of a convenience sample. LMX strength was assessed with the Leader-Member Exchange scale (LMX-7; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995), perceived communication frequency was determined with the Leader Communication Exchange scales (LCX-P, LCX-N; Omilion-Hodges & Baker, 2017), and qualitative data were gathered to explore AEs (N = 851). Exploratory factor analysis of LCX scales revealed five factors with good reliabilities (α between .89 and .97); however, positive correlations between the affect LCX factor and LMX (r = .84) indicate low discriminant validity. LCX factors explained 73% of the outcome variance of LMX, whereas AE’s impact accounted for 55%; however, AE did not exhibit incremental validity. Implications from this study would help with training and developing supervisors in relationship building, improving performance management processes with employees, providing individualized recognition, and conflict resolution. Keywords: leader-member exchange (LMX), social exchange theory (SET), anchoring events (AEs), supervisor communication	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/324389
dc.language	en	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	leader-member exchange (LMX), anchoring events (AEs), supervisor communication, employee relations, psychology, supervisor-employee, psychology. social, psychology, behavioral.	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Arts	en_US
dc.title	PREDICTING EMPLOYEE-SUPERVISOR RELATIONSHIP STRENGTH (LMX): DOES A SINGLE MOMENT MATTER?	en_US
ou.group	College of Arts and Sciences::Department of Psychology	en_US
shareok.nativefileaccess	restricted	en_US
shareok.orcid	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6822-3476	en_US