Investigating the Moderating Effects of Leader-Member Exchange in the Psychological Contract Breach-Employee Performance Relationship: A Test of Two Competing Perspectives

Date

2010

Authors

Restubog, Simon
Bordia, Prashant
Tang, Robert L.
Krebs, Scott A

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Volume Title

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Abstract

Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been characterized as a form of social support capable of buffering the effects of negative work experiences. However, employees with high-quality relationships with leaders in the organization may have stronger negative reactions when psychological contracts are breached. Thus, while a social support perspective would suggest that LMX minimizes the adverse impact of psychological contract breach on employee performance, a betrayal perspective proposes that high LMX would aggravate the negative effects. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, results across three samples provided support for the betrayal perspective. That is, breach had a stronger negative relationship with organizational citizenship behaviours and in-role performance under conditions of high LMX. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.

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Citation

Source

British Journal of Management

Type

Journal article

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Restricted until

2037-12-31