The role of job embeddedness on employee performance: The interactive effects with leader-member exchange and organization-based self-esteem

Although job embeddedness was originally conceptualized to explain job stability or why people stay in their organizations, this investigation examines the role of job embeddedness as a hypothesized moderator of relationships among leader-member exchange (LMX), organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and task performance. Findings from 2 studies involving 367 employees and 41 supervisors, 1 in a telecommunications company and another in a manufacturing setting, support hypotheses concerning job embeddedness as a moderator of the relationship between (a) LMX and task performance within a telecommunication sample and LMX and OCBs in a sample of manufacturing employees, and (b) OBSE and OCBs in a manufacturing sample. Further, a hypothesized 3-way interaction involving job embeddedness, LMX, and OBSE on task performance was found in a sample of manufacturing employees. The implications of these findings for studying and managing job embeddedness in relation to employee performance are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc