Navigating emotional waters: Exploring the relationship between emotion validation and LMX: The moderating role of attachment style
Abstract
This study aims to explore the relationship between emotion validation and leader-member exchange, with a particular focus on the potential influence of attachment style. Using a cross-sectional design, this study investigates a sample of 183 Norwegian employees. The results show a positively significant relationship between emotion validation and followers' perception of the leader-member exchange quality. Our results imply that followers’ who experience that their leaders validate their emotional expressions, report a higher quality relationship with their supervisors. While our study did not yield empirical support for attachment style as a moderator, we did discover a noteworthy triple interaction effect by incorporating relatedness as a moderating moderator. This finding suggests that having an avoidant attachment style reduces the positive effect that emotion validation has on relationship quality in certain situations, particularly when experiencing negative emotions.
Description
Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Psychology - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2023