We tested a model that focuses on leader and member perceptions of exchange in the LMX relationship. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined whether alignment in leader and member assessment of the exchange relationship (i.e., similar perceptions of the quality of exchange in the relationship) impacts employee affective commitment, innovative performance, and turnover. We also investigated misalignment, specifically, whether leader or member assessment of LMX shapes employee outcomes. We tested our hypothesized model on a sample of 206 employees in 35 groups. We utilized hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and polynomial regression and employed response surface methodology to illustrate the relationships. Results demonstrate that employee outcomes are related to the degree to which leader and subordinate perceptions of LMX are aligned, after controlling for individual-level effects. In misalignment, the leaders’ positive perceptions rather than members’ perceptions of LMX explain employee innovative performance whereas LMX misalignment effects on affective commitment and turnover were not significant. Given the mixed results from previous research, our study suggests that LMX alignment enhances understanding of employee outcomes, relative to examining leader or subordinate LMX perceptions alone. Additionally, in misalignment, the leader’s perspective of the quality of the relationship is more relevant than the member’s perspective in influencing employee innovative performance. We add value by developing theory on the effects of LMX alignment and misalignment on employee outcomes, and we address methodological issues, such as treating LMX as a continuous variable, while testing for the alignment/misalignment effects.

我们测试了一个模型，该模型侧重于领导者和成员对LMX关系中交换的看法。基于社会交换理论，我们研究了领导者和成员对交换关系的评估是否一致（即，对关系中交换质量的看法相似）是否会影响员工的情感投入，创新绩效和离职率。我们还调查了失调，特别是领导者或成员对LMX的评估是否会影响员工的绩效。我们在35个小组的206名员工中对我们的假设模型进行了测试。我们利用层次线性建模（HLM）和多项式回归，并采用响应面方法来说明这种关系。结果表明，员工的业绩与LMX领导者和下属的看法一致的程度有关，在控制了个人层面的影响之后。在失调中，领导者的积极看法而非成员对LMX的看法解释了员工的创新绩效，而LMX失调对情感投入和离职的影响并不显着。鉴于先前研究的结果参差不齐，我们的研究表明，与仅检查领导者或下属的LMX感知相比，LMX一致性可以增强对员工成果的理解。此外，在失调中，领导者对关系质量的看法比成员对影响员工创新绩效的看法更为重要。我们通过开发有关LMX对齐和错位对员工成果影响的理论来增加价值，并解决一些方法论问题，例如将LMX视为连续变量，