Is personality associated with perceptions of LMX? An empirical study

The paper seeks to investigate whether or not leader‐member exchange (LMX) is influenced by the personality of subordinates and/or supervisors.

Previous literature from the general leadership, personality, and LMX domains was used as a theoretical background for proposing certain types of relationships between the personality traits that make up the Big Five and employees’ perceptions of LMX. Personality data were collected from 195 matched pairs of employees and supervisors. LMX data were collected from 195 employees. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Employees' conscientiousness, extroversion, openness, and neuroticism were found to impact perceptions of LMX. Likewise, supervisors' conscientiousness and agreeableness also impacted employees' perceptions of LMX.

The present study included two potential research limitations. First, personality was measured using the short‐version of the NEO‐FFI; thus, we were unable to run analysis at the facet level. Second, although we did have two sources of data (i.e. the supervisor and subordinate), there is a possibility that common method variance may have influenced some of the hypothesized relationships.

Results indicate there may be a dispositional basis to perceptions of LMX. Thus, the relationship between LMX and outcome variables (i.e. performance, turnover, satisfaction, etc.) may be only part of the story. Practitioners that want to maximize the relationship between employees and their supervisors would be well served to actively consider personality issues. In particular, some employees and some supervisors appear to be more willing to engage in exchanges than others.

As far as we know, this is the first study to investigate the influence of personality from two sources (i.e. the supervisor and subordinate) on LMX. It moves beyond the traditional study of demographic similarity.