TY - JOUR AB - Purpose The diversity literature has yet to investigate relationships between diversity and leader–member exchanges (LMX) at multiple levels of analysis. The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel model of nationality diversity and LMX. In doing so, the authors investigate the role of surface- and deep-level diversity as related to leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) and relative LMX (RLMX), and hence to subordinate job performance.Design/methodology/approach The authors test a multilevel model of diversity and LMX using multisource survey data from subordinates nesting within supervisors. The authors do so in a context where diversity in nationality is pervasive and plays a key role in LMXs, i.e., a multinational organization in Dubai. The authors tested the cross-level moderated model using MPlus.Findings The results suggest surface-level similarity is more important to RLMX than deep-level similarity. The relationship between surface-level similarity and RLMX is moderated by workgroup nationality diversity. When workgroups are more diverse, there is a positive relationship between dyadic nationality similarity and RLMX; when workgroups are less diverse, similarity in nationality matters less. Moreover, LMXD at the workgroup level moderates the relationship between RLMX and performance at the individual level.Originality/value This study is one of very few to examine both diversity and LMX at multiple levels of analysis. This is the first study to test the workgroup diversity as a cross-level moderator of the relationship between deep-level similarity and LMX. The results challenge the prevailing notion that that deep-level similarity is more strongly related to LMX than surface-level diversity. VL - 38 IS - 1 SN - 2040-7149 DO - 10.1108/EDI-03-2018-0054 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2018-0054 AU - Pichler Shaun AU - Livingston Beth AU - Yu Andrew AU - Varma Arup AU - Budhwar Pawan AU - Shukla Arti PY - 2019 Y1 - 2019/01/01 TI - Nationality diversity and leader–Member exchange at multiple levels of analysis: Test of a cross-level model T2 - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 20 EP - 39 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -