Literature Review Part
Within the period of the last three decades, researchers paid a lot of attention to studying the connection between leader-membership exchange and leader proactive personality. Their special interest was centred around the idea that the success of any enterprise depends on the amount and effectiveness of leader membership exchange. They have also identified that a leader’s proactive personality is a very important variable for leader-membership exchange, which is explained by the fact that the features of a leader’s proactive personality, that both a leader and his or her subordinates have, affect the effectiveness of interaction within the collective body (Darvish & Farzane-dokht, 2011).
To understand why exactly the features of a leader’s proactive personality are so important for leader-member exchange, and how the mechanism of their interaction is seen in practice, it is important to examine the description of a leader’s proactive personality in different sources. Majorly, a leader’s proactive personality is defined as an individual’s behavioural proclivity to influence the working environment around him or her with an objective to make improvements in the working process (Zhang, Wang, & Shi, 2012). It refers to one’s ability to show endurance in difficult circumstances, and to influence the environment until the intended objective is realized (Zhang, Wang, & Shi, 2012). It is also one of the most important qualities, that make an employee successful in business , and an individual’s ability to demonstrate a tendency to be innovative, cooperative in team, effective in job performance, and capable of being initiative in entrepreneurship. This ability refers to individual’s active position in the working process, which is seen in his or her desire to show initiative when working with different tasks (Kim, Hon & Crant, 2009). Besides, a leader’s proactive personality is one’s potential in being unconstrained by external forces in any particular situation; in being able to see additional opportunities, where the others do not see any of such; realize these potential opportunities with the aim of acquiring the highest levels of profitability that are possible; and being persevering in difficult circumstances that force to stop and give up (Sears, 2009).
The above-mentioned overlook of the features of a leader’s proactive personality shows that having the qualities of leader proactive personality, an individual is able to be effective in facing difficulties at work and in finding more opportunities. These are the exact qualities that are necessary for resultative leader-member exchange. A remarkable point in the current finding of researches in this field is in the fact that the best effect in leader-member exchange is achieved when both parties (a leader and a subordinate) demonstrate qualities that characterize them as proactive personalities (Darvish & Farzane-dokht, 2011). According to the latest findings the most important qualities, which are necessary for leader-member exchange are creativity, energy, motivation, and self-efficiency (Darvish & Farzane-dokht, 2011). This is explained by the fact that all of these qualities develop a positive and cooperative atmosphere within the body of workers at an enterprise, and affect the work of subordinates and a leader as well (Sears, 2009).
As for the results of reviewing current research studies regarding a leader’s proactive personality and its connection with leader-member exchange, it appears that the piece of theoretical knowledge, existing in this field nowadays, is considerable. However, a gap can be identified with regards of the practical implementation of the found information within the concrete conditions of the business process.
The Hypothesis Part
There exists a difference in the effectiveness of leader member exchange if the levels of a leader’s proactive personality and a follower’s proactive personality are not equal. According to the currently published results of research studies in the area of leader member exchange, the quality of leader member exchange is higher if a follower’s proactive personality is higher than a leader’s proactive personality (Zhang, Wang & Shi, 2012). Therefore, a conclusion can be made that the dependence between the variables of a leader’s proactive personality, a follower’s proactive personality, and leader member exchange is asymmetrical or inverted. This is explained by the fact that if a follower may provide more valuable recourses such as skills and abilities into the exchange with a leader, the negative effects of incongruence will be mitigated. Even if a leader may see a threat for his/her position in a follower due to his/her better professional skills, the negative points of the situations will be covered by the contribution made by a follower. In particular, a leader will be able to concentrate on the issues that are only in his/her competence, and may expect not to be destructed on the reason of the necessity to give corrections and orders to a follower. In contrast, when a follower’s proactive personality is lower than a leader’s proactive personality, one is not motivated to mitigate the incongruence in leader member exchange, and as the result, the quality of leader member exchange becomes lower.
Hypothesis. In case a leader’s proactive personality is lower than a follower’s proactive personality, the quality of leader member exchange is higher, and vice verse – if a leader proactive personality is higher than a follower’s proactive personality, than the quality of leader member exchange is lower. Thus, the dependence between these variables is inverted.
References
Darvish, Hassan, & Farzane-dokht, Nasrin. (2011). Studying the Effect of Leader-Member Exchange in Creating energy and Creativity as Workplace: A Case Study at Alzahra University. International Journal of Academic Research 3(2), 1252-1261.
Kim, T., Hon, A., & Crant, M. (2009). Proactive Personality, Employee Creativity, and Newcomer Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Business and Psychology 24(1), 93-103.
Sears, G. J. (2009). Proactive Personality Congruence and Leader-Member Exchange: A Trait Interactionist Perspective. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association.
Zhang, Z., Wang, M., & Shi, J. (2012). Leader-Follower Congruence in Proactive Personality and Work Outcomes: Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange. Academy of Management Journal 55 (1), 111–130.