The Effect of Personality Traits on the Relationship Between Inclusive Leadership and LMX, and Its Outcomes

Research Project for the degree of Master of Science in Human Resource Studies

Bella MirzamagomedovaDecember 17, 2015

Why this topic ?Novelty

New interesting topic Mostly unresearched/not deeply researched

Originality explores diversity in terms of personality

traits

Actuality this research appears when academic

research is particularly interested in various effects related to inclusion

Research question:‘To what extent does inclusive

leadership behavior affect OCB, job satisfaction and job performance through leader-member exchange relationship, and to what extent does extraversion versus introversion affect the relationship between the inclusive leadership and leader-member exchange relationship?’

What is….Inclusive leadership A person, who leads/manages/supervises a

group/team by creating relationships with subordinates in order to accomplish tasks for mutual interest, whereby the leader collaborates rather than commands them (Hollander, 2009).

An IL creates an environment of inclusion, where different voices are respected and heard, diverse viewpoints are valued, and everyone is encouraged to make a meaningful contribution (Pless & Maak, 2004, p.130-131)

LMX Relationship between IL and a subordinate, where if

the employee is a member of an “in-group” – there is a high-quality LMX between the leader and the employee.

Employee is a member of an “out-group” – low-quality LMX (Organ, 2006).

Inclusive leadership theory H1: The more the leader is inclusive, the higher is the

leader-member exchange relationship.

Social exchange theory H2: The higher the quality of LMX, the more employees will

be likely to engage in OCB. H3: The higher the quality of LMX, the higher the job

satisfaction of employees. H4: The higher the quality of LMX, the higher the job

performance of employees. H5: LMX partially mediates the relationship between

inclusive leadership and OCB, job satisfaction and job performance.

Conceptual model

Theories & Hypotheses I

Theories & Hypotheses IICompensation of Resources Theory (COR) H6: The more the leader is inclusive, the higher is the leader-

member exchange relationship, whereby this relationship is moderated by personality traits, such that the effect for introverts is stronger than for extraverts.

Hypothesized relationship between introverts and extraverts:

MethodsParticipants (only working in teams)

264 employees, 84 men (31.8%) and 180 women (68.2%)

Most respondent worked in the OC in Roermond The qualifications for participating were:

Amount of members between 4 and 25 Team members interact face-to-face Team members have both individual and common goals The team works exclusively in and for one organization The team works together for at least 3 months Team members are interdependent in their tasks

Measurement and procedure Existing scales were used In Dutch and in English (“forward- and back-translation”

method used by Degroot, Dannenburg, & Vanhell, 1994) Data collected via questionnaires in both Dutch and English

languages via Qualtrics and paper versions

Analyses Sequential regression analysis (for direct

effects, mediation and moderation)

Conditional Process analysis by Hayes (Hayes, 2012) (for the moderated mediation, model 7)

Results H1 – H5H1 supported by both analyses Inclusive leadership was positively associated with LMX (b =

1.26, t (220) = 5.23, p < .001). H2 rejected/not significant model LMX was not significantly associated with OCB (b = .01, t (220)

= .25, p > .5). H3 was supported LMX was positively associated with job satisfaction (b = .23, t

(220) = 2.88, p < .05). Additionally, IL was positively related to job satisfaction (b = .15, t (220) = 2.04, p < .05).

H4 accepted LMX and job performance (β = .192, p < .01). H5 partially accepted Only the positive relationship between IL and job satisfaction

through LMX was supported

Inclusive leadership LMX

Personality traits:extraverts

OCB

Job satisfaction.620***

.010

.040

Job performance

.179*

Age

Educational level

Service sector-.008***

.116***

* p < .05; Sobel test: z-value = 1.177**p < .01;*** p < .001.

.180**

.253***

.235**

.133**

.170*

Direct effects (hypothesized)

Direct effect of IL (not hypothesized)

Effects of personality traits (not hypothesized)

Effects of age (not hypothesized)

Effects of educational level (not hypothesized)

Regression analysis for mediation

Results H6H6 incongruent results The results of the moderation in regression analysis supported

H6: personality traits were moderating the relationship between inclusive leadership and LMX, and the effect for introverts was slightly stronger than for extraverts (b = -.229, p= .001).

The moderating effect of personality traits on IL and LMX

Moderated mediation analysis

Inclusive leadership

Personality traits:Introverts > extraverts

OCB

Job satisfaction1.263***

-.019

.029

* p < .05;**p < .01;*** p < .001.

Job performance

.234*LMX

-.229*

.265**

.218**

.806**

.177**Age

Service sector

-.006**

-.005**

.444***

.156*

.114*

Direct effects (hypothesized)

Direct effect of IL (not hypothesized)

Effects of personality traits (not hypothesized)

Effects of age (not hypothesized)

Effects of service sector (not hypothesized)

Results H6 The moderated mediation analysis

conducted in Process did not provide any support for the moderated role of personality traits.

The Index of the moderated mediation showed no conditional indirect effect moderated by personality traits in 1st analysis (95% CI (-.04| .02); 2nd - (95% CI (-.15| .01); 3rd - (95% CI (-.05| .01).

Additional findings Negative effect of age on job

performance, and OCB

Positive relationship between service sector and OCB

Positive relationship between education and job performance

Conclusion IL leads to high-quality leader member

exchange relationship between the leader and subordinates.

LMX leads to job satisfaction and job performance

IL leads to job satisfaction

LMX mediates the positive relationship between IL and job satisfaction

Inconclusive results regarding personality traits

Practical & Theoretical Implications

Confirms the usefulness to organize various trainings/workshops in order to create inclusive environments

Provides strategies for effective leaders

Provides results that can be taken into consideration by policy-makers to create policies to encourage supervisors to be inclusive

Shows the importance of IL

Future research and limitations

Sample size Generalizability Variety of methods Research design More perspectives for objective

results More elements of the personality

traits Other/additional variables