Understanding the relationship between span of control and subordinate consensus in leader-member exchange

Schyns, B.; Maslyn, J.M.; Weibler, J.

doi:10.1080/13594320903146485

Understanding the relationship between span of control and subordinate consensus in leader-member exchange

Schyns, B.; Maslyn, J.M.; Weibler, J.

Authors

Professor Birgit Schyns birgit.schyns@durham.ac.uk
Professor

J.M. Maslyn

J. Weibler

Abstract

Leader-member exchange (LMX) refers to the relationship quality a leader shares with members of his or her work group, typically described as differentiation in quality within the group. Numerous empirical studies demonstrate that the quality of this relationship is positively related to followers' attitudes and organizational outcomes. It has been proposed that the quality of possible relationships between the leader and the led will be affected by the number of employees directly reporting to the leader, with empirical findings showing a slight negative relationship between span of control and LMX. Little is known, however, about how span of control influences variability in the quality of leader-member exchange within the context of work groups. Therefore, following a recognized assumption to strive for as many as possible leadership relations on a high LMX level, we examine how individual- and group-level (consensus in) LMX can be based on different dimensions of the LMX relationship. We suggest how LMX consensus and a high LMX level can be established even in large spans of control.

Citation

Schyns, B., Maslyn, J., & Weibler, J. (2010). Understanding the relationship between span of control and subordinate consensus in leader-member exchange. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 19(3), 388-406. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320903146485

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jun 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Nov 23, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Feb 1, 2011
Journal	European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
Print ISSN	1359-432X
Electronic ISSN	1464-0643
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	19
Issue	3
Pages	388-406
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320903146485
Keywords	Leadership, Span of control.
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1546067

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Copyright Statement
This is an electronic version of an article published in
Schyns, B. and Maslyn, J.M. and Weibler, J. (2010) 'Understanding the relationship between span of control and subordinate consensus in leader-member exchange.', European journal of work and organizational psychology., 19 (3). pp. 388-406.
European journal of work and organizational psychology is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ with the open URL of your article.