A social identity perspective on the association between leader-member exchange and job insecurity

This study aimed to understand the association between leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee job insecurity. We proposed that LMX quality may foster a sense of organizational insider status, which could reduce the perception of job insecurity. Moreover, the extent to which employees identify their supervisor with the organization (i.e. the extent of supervisor organizational embodiment, SOE) and the variation in LMX quality within the work group (i.e. LMX differentiation) were theorized to be moderators of the effect of LMX quality on perceived organizational insider status. Time-lagged data were collected from a sample of 186 Chinese employees working in 31 work groups. The results indicated that perceived organizational insider status mediated the relationship between LMX quality and job insecurity and that SOE moderated the effect of LMX quality on perceived organizational insider status such that the effect was stronger when SOE was high (vs. low). However, we did not find support for the moderating effect of LMX differentiation. This study provides new insights into the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of the association between LMX quality and job insecurity, a typical stressor for many present-day workers.