DEMOGRAPHY ROLE ON LMX RELATIONSHIPS: A DYAD AND TEAM LEVEL APPROACH.

High quality leader-member relationships (LMX) provide huge opportunities for strategic and organizational benefits (see Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1996; Liden et al., 1997). Despite the many positive effects of high LMXs, one area in need of empirical investigation is evidence of what leads to higher and lower quality relationships (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2000). The present analyses the antecedents of LMX, following the similarity-attraction paradigm at the dyad and at the team level, and specifically explores the gender role in the development of high LMX in teams. Our results support prior research, about demographic variables positive related to quality of LMX development, adding evidence on the importance of combine many demographic variables together. Focusing on sex or gender role in the development of LMX and team composition, this investigation point out that the gender of the leader is not the unique determinant for developing high LMXs, but the gender of the team members is highly and positively related to quality LMXs, regardless leader gender