THE DARK SIDE OF RELATIVE LEADER-MEMBER
EXCHANGE
The dyadic relationships between employees and their immediate supervisor are arguably one
of the most important relationships in the workplace. Leader-member exchange (LMX) research
illustrates that leaders typically favor some followers with trust, emotional support, and the
exchange of valued resources that are crucial to the followers’ performance and achievements
(Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden, Brouer, & Ferris, 2012; Sparrowe & Liden, 2005).
RLMX refers to relative standing between an employee’s LMX and that of coworkers.
The emerging literature on relative LMX (RLMX) generally demonstrates positive effects for
employees with higher levels of LMX relative to peers. However, the possible negative
implications of RLMX triggered by social comparison are largely ignored. We propose that high
RLMX may evoke incivility from other coworkers in one’s social network. Based on resources
theory of social exchange (Foa & Foa, 1974), we suggest the focal member’s influence network
centrality serves as the boundary conditions that impact the extent to which RLMX is a negative
trigger for uncivil employee relations. Consistent with hypotheses, full network data collected
from 172 restaurant employees across six store locations revealed that:
 Employees with high RLMX but low influence centrality in a workgroup were more
likely to experience workplace incivility.
 Employees with high RLMX and high influence centrality in a workgroup were less
likely to experience workplace incivility.
 The downstream consequences of this interaction included increased employee
turnover intentions and workplace deviance behavior.
Implications of the Results:
A leader wishing to minimize incivility and its negative consequences should pay close attention
to the development of LMX relationships. Specifically, leaders should consider the impact of a
particular LMX relationship on other followers. Developing high-quality relationships with
followers with little social capital (i.e., influence) has the potential to result in the mistreatment
of those employees, which may then lead to increased deviant behavior and turnover
intentions. A leader should take action if incivility is detected in the workplace. Moreover,
leaders should take steps to enhance coworker social exchange by fostering communication
and cooperation within the workgroup. For example, organizations can use mentoring
programs to promote dependency, assistance, and resource exchange among employees.
Furthermore, to facilitate the formation of influence, employees should enhance their own
capability to provide advice or help to coworkers. Thus, those employees can increase their
influence in the informal network to buffer the negative consequence of high RLMX.
Unpublished Manuscript
Authors:
Wu, Bingqing – University of Illinois at Chicago
Kluemper, Donald H. – University of Illinois at Chicago
Taylor, Shannon G. – University of Central Florida
Bowler, W. Matthew – Oklahoma State University