Does Similarity Increase Subordinates’ Satisfaction? A Perspective of Leader-Member Exchange Theory
Ting-Hung Wang, Hsiang-Kai Dong, Chung-Yuang Jan
Abstract
As a saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together,” people with more similarities are more likely to be attracted to each other. Some prior studies showed that when government employees were not satisfied with the leadership of their leaders, it would affect their job satisfaction. This study aims at exploring why leaders make different relationships with different subordinates, from the perspective of Leader-Member Exchange theory, and tries to answer the question of whether the similarity in the level of trust, support from supervisors, and leadership style affect the staff’s satisfaction with supervisors.
This study conducted a questionnaire survey on government employees in Taipei City government. We successfully gathered responses from 33 supervisors and 108 subordinates in total. After analyzing the results, this study found that although the similarity in leadership style and gender did not affect the satisfaction with the supervisors, subordinates still had a high degree of satisfaction with supervisors when they perceived a higher level of trust and a higher level of support from their supervisors. In general, the cognition of subordinates is crucial. For the subordinates, no matter how supervisors think, as long as they trust their supervisors and believe they have enough support, they will have positive attitude toward their supervisors. Hence, as long as the subordinates trust their supervisors and feel they are supported, they are willing to follow orders.
Keywords: Leader-Member Exchange Theory, similarity, satisfaction with supervisors, job satisfaction