Leader-member exchange differentiation (LMX differentiation) has become a new subject under discussion.In recent years,there has been a growing body of studies focusing on a better understanding of the effects of LMX differentiation on team as well as individual outcomes.However,the role of LMX differentiation on creativity has been neglected and thus is in need of empirical studies.On the other hand,literatures on LMX differentiation and social exchange theory have indicated that the leader's differential treatments of different subordinates play a critical role in fostering team and individual creativity.To fill the void,the current study,drawing on social cognitive theory,compares the effects of differentiation on both team and individual outcomes,and further discusses the interaction of the team-level differentiation and the individual-level differentiation on employee creativity.A survey study was conducted using multisource data for 367 individuals on 80 teams within different organizations in China.The results shows that: at the team level,there is a curvilinear relationship between leader-member exchange relationship differentiation and team creativity;LMX differentiation has a negative effect on individual creativity;at the individual level,relative leader-member exchange relationship (RLMX) exhibits a positive effect on individual creativity via perceived team autonomy support.At the end of the paper,the limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.%领导—成员交换关系的差异化是近年来学术界的一个热点课题.尽管已有研究考察了它对一些个体和团队产出的影响,但领导—成员交换关系差异化对创造力的影响一直为研究者们所忽略.领导—成员交换关系差异化文献和社会比较理论表明领导与不同下属交换质量的差异对团队及个人创造力的发挥具有重要意义.基于此,本研究采用社会比较的理论视角,同时从个体和团队两个层面考察领导—成员交换关系差异化对团队和个体创造力的影响,并进一步分析团队层面的差异化对个体层面效应的调节作用.通过对中国大陆80个知识型团队的367名个体的问卷调查,结果发现:在个体层面,相对的领导—成员交换关系(RLMX)对个体创造力有显著正向影响,团队自主支持感在这两者关系中起着中介作用;在团队层面,领导—成员交换关系差异和团队创造力之间呈U型关系,领导—成员交换关系差异对个体创造力有消极影响,但团队层面的关系差异化对RLMX和个体创造力关系的调节效应不显著.总体来看,本研究发现LMX差异化对个体层面和团队层面的影响是不一致的.最后讨论了本研究的不足及未来潜在的研究方向.
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