The relationship between leader construal level and leader-member exchange relationship

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of leader’s construal level, which is the tendency of the leader to construe things abstractly or concretely, on leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and the moderating role of relational demography, which is the comparative similarity between supervisor and subordinate in demographic characteristics. The authors hypothesize a positive relationship between leader construal level and the quality of relationship, such that, as the leader’s construal level increases and becomes more abstract, the quality of relationship improves. Furthermore, demographic similarity is expected to moderate the relationship between leader construal level and LMX quality. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 159 employees with an online questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis was used for hypothesis testing. Findings: Results show that the leader’s construal level is positively associated with LMX quality. Moreover, demographic similarity moderates this relationship such that when subordinate and supervisor have similar demographic characteristics, the effect of leader construal level on LMX is higher. Originality/value: This study addresses the call for further research on leader-related antecedents of LMX by showing that leader construal level predicts relationship quality. This study also enhances our understanding of how to leverage the construal level in leadership research. Moreover, this study provides a deeper and more integrated understanding regarding the development of LMX relationships by delineating the interactive effect of leader-related features and relational demography.