Chapter 5: Attribution Theory and LMX Theory

According to the attribution theory (Davis & Gardner, 2004; Green & Mitchell, 1979; Kelley, 1967), we judge people differently depending on what motives, beliefs, or intentions we associate with an observed behavior. Therefore, it is predicted that the quality of leader-member exchange (LMX) should be dependent on how supervisors attribute the empowerment-seeking behavior of subordinates (Davis & Gardner, 2004; Steiner, 1997). In this chapter, I discuss how supervisors’ attributions about subordinates’ feedback-seeking behavior contribute to the strength of LMX ties. It is predicted that supervisors tend to reciprocate weak LMX for those subordinates whom they perceive to have weak performance-enhancement motives and strong impression management motives, and reciprocate the strong LMX (sharing network leadership) for those whom they perceive to have strong performance-enhancement but weak impression management motives. This is because supervisors tend to trust the motives of subordinates who strive for task improvement (performance-enhancement motives) but not for the enhancement and manipulation of impressions (impression management motives). Therefore, leaders should be careful in avoiding being “fooled” by ingratiators and should instead develop the authentic team players.