Leadership in a different light: understanding co-worker exchange in a triad

Abstract

This work analyses the relationship between Leader and Member Exchange (LMX) and Co-worker Exchanges in a triad. Using a large sample of 1579 observations, our work provides theoretical and empirical support to the idea that the quality of the relationship between two co-workers, rather than being an objective characteristic of the dyad, is in fact an individual variable affected by the perception that each co-worker has of the relationship each member of the same dyad holds with their common leader. Our results, based on 1580 observations, offer some new insights and extend the well-known Balance Theory demonstrating that it is not only the similarity and dissimilarity in their LMX, what determines co-workers’ relationships but also the individual perception of own’s LMX. Furthermore, we also point at the relevance of the contingent effect played by the average LMX at the team level and the level of differentiation that the leader holds at the team level.