Chapter 4: Making LMX Leadership Work in China

The purpose of this chapter is to present the theoretical and empirical work on leader-member exchange (LMX) in China. The theoretical reception of LMX has generally the same meaning in the West and in China, but there are differences in these receptions due to vast cultural influences. These will be discussed in the current chapter. Empirically, LMX research in China shows that the predictive results of using validated Chinese LMX measures are similar to those in the West, particularly in the United States, indicating that establishing a high-quality LMX is helpful for employees to obtain career success in both the Chinese and the American work contexts. The results strongly suggest that LMX is a critical predictor of various work attitudes and outcomes such as high degree of job satisfaction, career success, increased work performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors in both China and the West. However, because of cultural differences between China and the West, there appears to be variance in values, norms, and actions that may make LMX work in different ways. We thus explain the issue of how to make LMX work in China by telling stories on growing up in mainland China and the learning of Chinese values.