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The influence of dispositions and shared leadership on team–member exchange

Rebecca S. Lau (Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)
Gordon W. Cheung (Department of Management and International Business, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand)
Helena D. Cooper–Thomas (Management Department, Faculty of Business Economics and Law, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand)

Journal of Managerial Psychology

ISSN: 0268-3946

Article publication date: 4 March 2021

Issue publication date: 29 March 2021

858

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine two individual dispositions, propensity to trust and reciprocation wariness, as antecedents of team–member exchange (TMX) and how shared leadership moderates these relationships. It also investigates work engagement as a consequence of TMX.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 175 employees in 42 teams; a multilevel random slope model was used to test the moderating effect of shared leadership at the team level and across levels.

Findings

Shared leadership provides a boundary condition for the relationships from propensity to trust and reciprocation wariness to work engagement through TMX. At the individual level, the positive effects of propensity to trust and negative effects of reciprocation wariness on TMX, and their indirect effects on work engagement through TMX, were weaker at higher shared leadership. At the team level, the positive relationship between propensity to trust and TMX was unconditional on shared leadership, whereas the relationship between reciprocation wariness and TMX was moderated by shared leadership. At the team level, shared leadership had positive effects on TMX and work engagement.

Practical implications

Managers can adopt shared leadership to encourage social exchanges among team members to enhance TMX and work engagement.

Originality/value

The study extends the TMX research by investigating dispositions as antecedents and work engagement as a consequence at both individual and team levels. It also identifies the moderating role played by team-level shared leadership, which provides a strong situation supporting reciprocal interactions.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (UGC/FDS16/B01/15).

Citation

Lau, R.S., Cheung, G.W. and Cooper–Thomas, H.D. (2021), "The influence of dispositions and shared leadership on team–member exchange", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 258-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-01-2020-0025

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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