How Leadership Can Influence Well-Being: The Roles of Leader-Member Exchange and Social Support

The present study examined how leadership can influence the impact of job demands on well-being by facilitating the development of known moderators of this relationship, such as social support. Direct and moderated relationships were proposed between job demands, leader-member exchange (LMX), supervisor social support, psychological well-being and emotional exhaustion. Data were collected from high-skilled employees and managers in a manufacturing plant in the People\u27s Republic of China. Surveys were administered in two waves, allowing longitudinal relationships to be tested. As hypothesized, high-quality LMX relationships facilitated supervisor social support. Also as expected, supervisor social support had a direct positive relationship with psychological well-being and a direct negative relationship with emotional exhaustion. However, job demands were not directly related to either psychological well-being or emotional exhaustion. Further, supervisor social support did not moderate the relationships between job demands and (a) well-being and (b) emotional exhaustion. The hypotheses were not supported in longitudinal analyses. Results of supplemental analyses suggested that supervisor social support partially mediated the relationships between LMX and (a) psychological well-being and (b) emotional exhaustion. Possible explanations for the findings are presented, followed by implications of the results, study limitations, and suggestions for future research in this area