Effect of Leader-Member Exchange Relationship on Occupational Stress in the Energy Sector of Pakistan: A Mediating Role of Job Involvement

Abstract

The relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and occupational stress has gained substantial attention in recent years. The objective of this study is two folds: a) to analyze the impact of LMX on occupational stress; and b) to investigate whether job involvement mediates the positive relationship between LMX and occupational stress. A useable sample of 342 responses is drawn from a leading multinational engineering company of the energy sector in Pakistan. LMX is measured by four dimensions i.e. affect, loyalty, perceived contribution and professional respect, whereas three dimensions are used to measure occupational stress i.e. personal resources, personal strain and occupational role. A measurement model is constructed with high validity and reliability. Following a segmentation approach, four hypotheses are tested using latent variable scores (LVS) through a variance-based partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings suggest that a) LMX shows a significant but on contrary to our expectation, a positive effect on occupational stress; b) LMX has no statistically significant effect on job involvement; c) job involvement has significant positive effect on occupational stress; however, d) job involvement does not mediate the relationship between LMX and occupational stress. The significant original contribution of this study in the leadership and management literature is that a high-quality LMX relationship can substantially increase the level of occupational stress. This research finding is emerged from the employees working in a large multinational engineering company of a developing country. Findings and managerial implications are discussed.

How positive leadership leads to employees’ interpersonal citizenship behavior: a self-consistency perspective

“…The current study applies the social exchange theory to explaining how the professional respect of employees for their leader mediates the effects of a positive approach to leadership on their person-focused and task-focused ICB. The first aspect of this mediation effect to be elaborated is how a high-quality reciprocal relationship between employees and their supervisor is manifested in the professional respect exhibited by the former for the latter (Adil and Qaiser, 2020). To begin with, a positive leader who encourages and recognizes the effort put into the work by their subordinates is perceived by them to understand their work and their abilities.…”

The Role of Organizational Stress in the Relationship Between Leader–Member Exchange and Workplace Envy

“…Use of the stress and coping theory could fill the gap caused by the mixed reviews concerning the relationship between LMX and WE, as it is well-known that leadership and stress are inseparably related (Adil & Qaiser, 2020). This study suggests that individuals’ response to LMX quality in terms of WE depends on their primary and secondary appraisal of the quality of their LMX and coping mechanisms.…”

“…Occupational stress is one of the most severe problems for both individuals and organizations (Adil & Qaiser, 2020) and is which is founded on the transactional theory of stress and coping. This theory identifies two processes as critical mediators of stressful relations between individuals and their environment on one side, and immediate and long-range outcomes on the other.…”