The Effects of Context and Ethnocultural Identity on Leader-Member Exchange

Abstract

The purpose of this study, then, is to contribute to the understanding of how contextual variables, especially the size of the work unit, and how demographic variables, especially ethnocultural identity, affect leader-member relations. The work of Oreen and colleagues (1996), which also examined the influence of demographic and organizational variables on LMX, concluded that demographic differences and organizational aspects were independently associated with LMX quality and that organizational influences were more pervasive than demographic influences. The only demographic variable that was significantly related (negatively) to LMX was gender dissimilarity. Also, all three organizational variables - unit size, resources, and workload - were associated with LMX, with a negative (-.27), a positive (.19), and a moderately negative relationship (.14), respectively. Based on these and other findings that will be reviewed, this study attempts to expand on this research. As with Green and colleagues' study, variables to be examined include the contextual variables of unit size, workload and resources, the relational demographic variables of age dissimilarity, educational dissimilarity, and gender dissimilarity, and the related work attitudes of satisfaction and commitment. The present study consists of three parts. First, ethnocultural dissimilarity between leaders and members was added to the variables examined by Green and colleagues' (1996) and examined for its relative effects on LMX and related work attitudes. A number of specific hypotheses concerning these variables were also tested. In addition, no research was found to examine ethnocultural distance between leaders and members. Since research has shown the importance of an individual's identification with his or her ethnocultural group as opposed to simply obtaining the single category of ethnicity or race, it is expected that an individual's identification will affect the leader-member relationship. This study examined whether there are lower quality relationships when ethnoculturally dissimilar leader-member dyads identify greatly with their respective ethnocultural group. Second, although past research has found effects of unit size on various aspects of the work unit, little research has addressed how size specifically affects leader-member exchange and these findings are not clear. No research was uncovered that has explored whether a limit to the number of high quality relationships exists in a work unit. In other words, there is the question of whether it is possible to discover a maximum size of a work unit in which the number of high quality leader-member relationship (LMX) dyads will not increase further. Therefore, the second part of the study focuses on the specific effects of unit size on LMX. Third, few studies have concentrated on examining a curvilinear relationship between unit size and both satisfaction and commitment. Studies have found more negative attitudes for extremely small groups and large groups, and more positive attitudes for moderately-sized groups. This part of the study further examines this association, as evidence seems to show this curvilinear relationship between them