Does impression management really help? A multilevel testing of the mediation role of impression management between personality traits and leader–member exchange

In this present study, we propose a multilevel research framework within which we identify personality traits as the primary source of the positive influence on leader–member exchange (LMX) through the mechanism of impression management behavior. Data are obtained from 23 branches of a large commercial bank in central Taiwan, with the samples collected from both managers and employees forming 228 manager–employee dyads, and thereby avoiding common method variance. Our results reveal that personality traits have significantly positive effects on LMX, with impression management behavior also playing a mediating role between them. Interestingly, we also find that group cohesiveness moderates the relationship between impression management behavior and LMX. Our study includes a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.