Leader–member social exchange (LMSX): development and validation of a scale

TLDR

Research on leader–member exchange has increasingly used social exchange theory, yet existing scales measure vertical dyad linkage rather than the construct itself. The authors examined the content validity of the widely used LMX7 and LMX‑MDM scales and then developed a new leader–member social exchange (LMSX) scale. Expert assessment revealed that LMX7 and LMX‑MDM items do not represent social exchange, whereas LMSX captures both shared and distinct aspects of the supervisor–subordinate relationship in a theoretically consistent manner. © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract In the last 10 years, research devoted to the construct of leader–member exchange (LMX) has increasingly relied on the tenets of social exchange as a theoretical foundation to propose and test relationships between supervisor‐subordinate dyads and variables of significant consequence. Despite the theory underpinning such relationships, researchers continue to measure LMX with scales developed to assess vertical dyad linkage (VDL), not social exchange. To address this concern, we investigated the content validity of LMX7 (the most widely cited measure of LMX) and LMX‐MDM (a popular multidimensional measure of LMX). Findings from content validity assessments by 25 LMX experts revealed LMX7 and LMX‐MDM items are not representative of the construct of social exchange. As such, we undertook a series of studies to develop a new scale we label, leader–member social exchange (LMSX). Results indicate LMSX is able to assess different, as well as the same, components of the supervisor–subordinate relationship as previous scales while being more theoretically consistent with the notion of social exchange. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.