A developmental approach to the examination of friendship in leader-follower relationships

Abstract

A developmental approach to the examination of the leader-follower relationship offers further insight into how the relationship evolves over time and the extent to which the presence of friendship contributes to effective versus ineffective working relationships. According to Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995), the development of a leader-member exchange relationship “is based on the characteristics of the working relationship as opposed to a personal or friendship relationship” (p. 237). This article provides a developmental model of the leader-follower relationship that incorporates both the literature on friendship formation from the field of social psychology and the approach to leadership represented by the leadermember exchange (LMX) model. Propositions and research questions are presented, as are implications for future research.