Decolonising Leadership Discourse: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange in Shaping Indigenous Practices

India, with its colonial past, continues to reflect unitarist models of leadership and governance in its organisational frameworks. Despite growing advocacy for decolonised organisational practices, such as adopting flatter structures and fostering employee voice, many Indian organisations remain entrenched in hierarchical, leader-follower paradigms. Traditional leader-centric models of organisational behaviour reflect enduring managerial legacies, where employees, even in democratic societies, often set aside their democratic values in the workplace. To contribute to the decolonisation of leadership research, the present study shifts the focus towards a relational and employee-centred approach: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX). LMX theory, originating in the 1970s U.S. WEIRD context, emphasises leader-follower relationship quality but requires careful cultural reinterpretation for application in non-Western settings like India. Unlike trait- or style-based models, LMX emphasises collaborative dynamics by viewing employees as active partners in organisational outcomes. This study therefore examines whether strong leader-employee relationships enhance engagement and openness in the workplace. Specifically, we examine whether perceived LMX quality influences employee silence within the Indian cultural context, and whether organisational citizenship behaviour mediates this relationship. Applying LMX in the Indian context, this study aims to generate Indigenous insights and enrich existing leadership frameworks with culturally grounded perspectives.