Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships

Research on leader-member exchange (LMX) has demonstrated that, in addition to the value of LMX as an indicator of quality relationships with leaders, employees also evaluate how their relationship with the leader compares to other employees’ relationship with the leader. This finding led to the eme...

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Main Authors: Lapointe, Émilie, Vandenberghe, Christian, Ben Ayed, Ahmed K., Schwarz, Gary, Tremblay, Michel, Chenevert, Denis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/
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author Lapointe, Émilie
Vandenberghe, Christian
Ben Ayed, Ahmed K.
Schwarz, Gary
Tremblay, Michel
Chenevert, Denis
author_facet Lapointe, Émilie
Vandenberghe, Christian
Ben Ayed, Ahmed K.
Schwarz, Gary
Tremblay, Michel
Chenevert, Denis
author_sort Lapointe, Émilie
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Research on leader-member exchange (LMX) has demonstrated that, in addition to the value of LMX as an indicator of quality relationships with leaders, employees also evaluate how their relationship with the leader compares to other employees’ relationship with the leader. This finding led to the emergence of LMX social comparison (LMXSC). This study examines how LMX vs. LMXSC relates to work outcomes and considers the employee and perceived supervisor self-concept levels as moderators. We posit that LMX predicts work performance through increased organizational commitment. We further suggest that the relational and collective levels of the self-concept act as contingencies of the relationships among LMX, LMXSC, commitment, and performance. A sample of 250 employee-supervisor dyads was used to test the hypotheses. LMX predicted commitment and, indirectly, performance. The employee and perceived supervisor relational self-concepts acted as moderators of LMXSC, and the perceived supervisor collective self-concept acted as a moderator of LMX and LMXSC. However, not all moderation hypotheses were supported. Unexpected moderating effects involving the employee and perceived supervisor individual self-concepts, as well as main effects, were also uncovered. This study helps differentiate LMX from LMXSC and understand the role of self-conceptions, including self-conceptions attributed by employees to the leader, in leader-member relationships.
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spelling nottingham-567282019-05-16T13:14:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/ Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships Lapointe, Émilie Vandenberghe, Christian Ben Ayed, Ahmed K. Schwarz, Gary Tremblay, Michel Chenevert, Denis Research on leader-member exchange (LMX) has demonstrated that, in addition to the value of LMX as an indicator of quality relationships with leaders, employees also evaluate how their relationship with the leader compares to other employees’ relationship with the leader. This finding led to the emergence of LMX social comparison (LMXSC). This study examines how LMX vs. LMXSC relates to work outcomes and considers the employee and perceived supervisor self-concept levels as moderators. We posit that LMX predicts work performance through increased organizational commitment. We further suggest that the relational and collective levels of the self-concept act as contingencies of the relationships among LMX, LMXSC, commitment, and performance. A sample of 250 employee-supervisor dyads was used to test the hypotheses. LMX predicted commitment and, indirectly, performance. The employee and perceived supervisor relational self-concepts acted as moderators of LMXSC, and the perceived supervisor collective self-concept acted as a moderator of LMX and LMXSC. However, not all moderation hypotheses were supported. Unexpected moderating effects involving the employee and perceived supervisor individual self-concepts, as well as main effects, were also uncovered. This study helps differentiate LMX from LMXSC and understand the role of self-conceptions, including self-conceptions attributed by employees to the leader, in leader-member relationships. Springer 2019-04-23 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/1/Lapointe2019_Article_SocialComparisonsSelf-Concepti.pdf Lapointe, Émilie, Vandenberghe, Christian, Ben Ayed, Ahmed K., Schwarz, Gary, Tremblay, Michel and Chenevert, Denis (2019) Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships. Journal of Business and Psychology . pp. 1-22. ISSN 0889-3268 leader-member exchange; social comparison; self-concept; organizational commitment; work performance https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10869-019-09628-9 doi:10.1007/s10869-019-09628-9 doi:10.1007/s10869-019-09628-9
spellingShingle leader-member exchange; social comparison; self-concept; organizational commitment; work performance
Lapointe, Émilie
Vandenberghe, Christian
Ben Ayed, Ahmed K.
Schwarz, Gary
Tremblay, Michel
Chenevert, Denis
Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title_full Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title_fullStr Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title_full_unstemmed Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title_short Social Comparisons, Self-Conceptions, and Attributions: Assessing the Self-Related Contingencies in Leader-Member Exchange Relationships
title_sort social comparisons, self-conceptions, and attributions: assessing the self-related contingencies in leader-member exchange relationships
topic leader-member exchange; social comparison; self-concept; organizational commitment; work performance
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56728/