Effective leadership in salient groups: Revisiting leader-member exchange theory from the perspective of the social identity theory of leadership

Two studies compared leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and the social identity theory of leadership. Study 1 surveyed 439 employees of organizations in Wales, measuring Work group salience, leader-member relations, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Study 2 surveyed 128 members of organizations in India, measuring identification not salience and also individualism/collectivism. Both studies provided good support for social identity predictions. Depersonalized leader-member relations were associated with greater leadership effectiveness among high- than low-salient groups (Study 1) and among high than low identifiers (Study 2). Personalized leadership effectiveness was less affected by salience (Study 1) and unaffected by identification (Study 2). Low-salience groups preferred personalized leadership more than did high-salience groups (Study 1). Low identifiers showed no preference but high identifiers preferred depersonalized leadership (Study 2). In Study 2, collectivists did not Prefer depersonalized as opposed to personalized leadership, whereas individualists did, probably because collectivists focus more on the relational self.

Virtual teams and group member dissimilarity - Consequences for the development of trust

The consequences of demographic dissimilarity for group trust in work teams was examined in a virtual (computer-mediated) and a face-to-face (FTF) environment. Demographic dissimilarity (based on age, gender, country of birth, enrolled degree) was predicted to be negatively associated with group trust in the FTF environment but not in the computer-mediated environment. Participants worked in small groups on a creative task for 3 consecutive days. In the computer-mediated environment, participants worked on the task for an hour per day. In the FTF environment, participants worked on the task for 20 minutes per day. Partial support was found for the effectiveness of computer-mediated groups in reducing the negative consequences of dissimilarity. Age dissimilarity was negatively related to trust in FTF groups but not in computer-mediated groups. Birthplace dissimilarity was positively related to trust in computer-mediated groups. Implications for the successful management of virtual teams are discussed.