Leaders’ enhancement of leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships: An examination of leaders’ cognitive support and knowledge resources in research groups

• We examined the effects of the Cognitive Support and Knowledge Resources that leaders provide their followers in a sample of 166 academic and commercial researchers in Sweden. Our goal was to investigate whether these two task-related variables were antecedents of followers’ perceptions of leader-member exchange (LMX). Specifically, we used multilevel modelling to investigate the effect of leader-provided Cognitive Support and Knowledge Resources in relation to the four sub-dimensions of LMX (LMX-MDM): Affect, Loyalty, Contribution, and Professional Respect. As we hypothesized, we found that both Cognitive Support and Knowledge Resources, with one exception, related to the four sub-dimensions. The exception was the failed association between Cognitive Support and Loyalty. We conclude that in knowledge-intensive settings, the Cognitive Support and Knowledge Resources leaders provide their followers are important variables that influence the quality of leader-member relationships.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

LMX

research groups

Cognitive Support

Knowledge Resources

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)