Authentic leadership and leader-member exchange: The moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity

Abstract

Authentic leadership theory and leader-member exchange theory suggest that there are positive direct relationships between leader authenticity, high-quality leader-member exchange relationships and follower job outcomes. Previous work corroborates these positive relationships. However, former studies have not considered the effect of the emotional expressions of leaders on these relationships. The present dissertation attempts to contribute to the leadership literature by explaining the moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity on the direct relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes. Accordingly, quantitative data, collected via survey administration to front-line employees of service-rendering companies from Istanbul and their immediate supervisors is used to test the hypotheses developed in light of the relevant literature. Results provided corroborative empirical evidence for the moderating effect of leader emotional expressivity on the relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes, while confirming the positive direct relationship between authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and follower job outcomes. Accordingly, the findings of this study revealed that the strength of leader emotional expressivity weakened the positive contributions of authentic leadership and leader-member exchange to follower job outcomes for leaders who are highly authentic or who engage in a high level of LMX. On the other hand, higher leader emotional expressivity compensates for the low levels of authenticity and LMX in terms of increasing follower job outcomes.