Chapter 4: The Concepts of Leader-Member Exchange and Mentoring: Core and Context

High quality leader-member exchange (LMX) and good mentoring appear to share some attributes. In this chapter we review the development of theory and research on each concept and discuss a small number of empirical studies that have explicitly investigated the two types of dyadic relationships. Next we provide an overview of similarities and differences between LMX and mentoring, including the characteristics of the two kinds of relationships, communication patterns within them, the development of such relationships, the role of individual differences, the outcomes associated with each, some contextual issues that appear to affect the expression of LMX and mentoring, and the characteristics of scholarship on the two constructs. We conclude that mentoring and LMX relationships may share intrinsic or core qualities but that their correlates and consequences may vary as a function of the context within which the dyad forms and develops. In this comparison, several research questions are suggested.