When Leader-member exchanges make workers happy and innovative: do efforts and rewards act as mediators?

Abstract

Today innovation is considered to be essential for organizational development, and organizations depend increasingly on employees’ efforts to innovate. Drawing on the eudemonic theory of well-being based on the idea of optimal functioning, we look at whether rewards and efforts act as mediators between leader-member exchange (LMX) and two dependent variables: well-being at work and innovative work behaviors (IWB). We examine how LMX is linked to IWB and well-being at work, and we test the mediating effects of workload and rewards in these links. A sample of 179 French workers responded to an online questionnaire. The results indicated that LMX was significantly linked to IWB and psychological well-being at work. The study also found an indirect effect of work rewards between LMX and psychological well-being at work. This mediating role was not found in the relationship between LMX and IWB.