Relative leader–member exchange perceptions and employee outcomes in service sector: the role of self-construal in feeling relative deprivation

Based on Social Comparison Theory, this study explores the impact of Relative Leader Member-Exchange Relationship (i.e. RLMX) on employee outcomes of organizational citizenship behaviour, turnover intention, and affective commitment via the mediating role of relative deprivation feeling. Furthermore, integrating research on self-construal, this study sets out to examine the moderating role of a key personal disposition; independent versus interdependent self-construal on the association between employee’s RLMX perception and relative deprivation feeling. Results using multi-level analyses from employee–supervisor matched data (N = 271 employees and 65 supervisors) largely supported our hypotheses. This study expands the relational context within which the impact of RLMX perception unfolds beyond the dyad of leader and self, to the triad of leader, self, and co-workers; so that it offers significant theoretical and practical implications, particularly for service sector employees.