Chapter 7: The Role of Politics and Political Behavior in The Development and Performance of LMX Relationships: A Multilevel Approach

This chapter focuses on the resource acquisition and utilization inherent in leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships. Specifically, we argue that the organizational politics and LMX literatures overlap in such a way that politics defines not only the mechanisms by which resources are acquired but also serves as part of the backdrop in which those resources are sought and leveraged. These two literatures are integrated into a multilevel conceptual model depicting this process. Our model suggests that this political process proceeds through four distinct, developmental phases that are impacted by context, relationship, and partner characteristic factors. This chapter introduces several propositions and concludes with recommendations for future scholarship in corporate politics.