Cognitive leader–member exchange differences between supervisors and subordinates

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reveal the influence of organizational identification (OI) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) directed toward organization (OCB-O) and OCB directed toward individuals (OCB-I), and explore the moderating effects of turnover intention (TI) and the differences of the moderating effects of supervisors’ ratings of leader–member exchange quality (LMX-L) and subordinates’ ratings of LMX quality (LMX-S) in the process. Design/methodology/approach - Based on social exchange theory, this study took administrative staff of private small and medium enterprises in China as population. A paired-samples design was used, and 437 valid paired samples were collected finally. Data analyses were conducted by using structural equation modeling. Findings - OI indicated a positive influence on both OCB-O and OCB-I. TI showed a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between OI and OCB-I, but no significant moderating effect on the positive relationship between OI and OCB-O. LMX-L and LMX-S were not in one same direction and showed different moderating levels. LMX-L had no significant effects on the relationship between OI and OCB-O, nor did on the relationship between OI and OCB-I. On the other hand, LMX-S strengthened both the positive relationship between OI and OCB-O, and the positive relationship between OI and OCB-I. Originality/value - This study explored the relationships from social exchange perspective, found that OCB-O and OCB-I had different formation mechanisms and should be explored as distinct variables, and confirmed that it was necessary to use the paired-samples design when studying dyadic phenomena.