Control and exchange: The impact of work environment on the work effort of low relationship quality employees

Our focus in this study was on uncovering which contextual factors positively influenced the level of work effort of employees who experience a low quality relationship with their supervisor. We use control theory to argue that the higher than unexpected level of work effort is due to the fact that certain work environments can return control to those who otherwise would have little, essentially serving as a substitute for a high quality LMX relationship. Data collected from 1179 employees in two organizations from the southwestern United States demonstrated that, for employees reporting low quality relationships with their supervisor, low supervisor competence, decentralized decision making, and low politics perceptions were related to high individual work effort. The scholarly and practical implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research in this area are offered.