Leader-member exchange and affective supervisor commitment : how does supervisor's organizational embodiment influence the relationship?

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationships between Leader-MemberExchange (LMX), more specifically its social (SLMX) and economic ELMX) dimensions, and Affective Supervisor Commitment (ASC)as well as the degree to which Supervisor's Organizational Embodiment (SOE) will moderate this relationship. The empirical research was based on data from 208 respondents either alumni of BI Norwegian Business School or employees of Oslo’s TNS Gallup branch. We employed a cross-lagged design by including a time lag of 14 days between measuring independent and dependent variables. As expected, the esults of our study show a positive relationship between SLMX and ASC. Contrary to our expectations, we didnotobtain empirical support for our hypothesis regarding the negative elationship between ELMX and ASC. Furthermore, SOE does not statistically significantly moderate these two relationships.The possible reasons for these resultsas well as the implications for practice and future research are discussed. Keywords: Social Leader-Member Exchange, Economic Leader-Member Exchange, Affective Supervisor Commitment, Supervisor’sOrganizational Embodiment.