Interpersonal Justice, Leader-Member Exchange, and Employee Negative Behaviors: A Proposed Model and Empirical Test

The complexity of superior-subordinate relationships in organizations is an essential concern among scholars and practitioners, according to the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory. This theory explains that superiors develop different levels of relationship with their subordinates. The current study aims to develop a leader-member relationship model based on the LMX views in predicting negative subordinate behaviors, namely social loafing (SL) and deviant behavior. Through a self-administered survey, the data were collected from 271 respondents who work in various industries in Indonesia. The obtained data were analyzed using the SEM method on Partial Least Square (PLS) software. The results showed that LMX affects organizational deviance (OD), supervisor-directed deviance (SD), and SL. LMX also played a significant role in mediating the effect of interpersonal justice (IJ) on OD, supervisor-directed deviance, and SL. These findings provide practical implications that allow leaders to manage their leader-employee relationship quality and avoid negative behaviors in the workplace.