Flexibility Idiosyncratic Deals and Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Leader- Member-Exchange-Affect

Abstract

Employee job performance is an important factor in achievement of organisational goals. The need by organisations to improve employee performance has raised scholarly interest in employee performance overtime. This study investigates flexibility idiosyncratic deals and leader-member exchange quality as factors that provide a viable link to desirable employee performance. The purpose of the study was to examine the mediating effect of leader-member exchange affect on the relationship between flexibility idiosyncratic deals and employee performance. The study is anchored on the social exchange and I-deals theories. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 325 employees of Information & Communications Technology (ICT) firms in Uganda, using a cross-sectional survey. The results confirmed the relationship between flexibility idiosyncratic deals and employee performance and Leadermember exchange affect (LMX affect) and employee performance. Results from this study revealed a significant mediating role of LMX affect on the relationship between flexibility idiosyncratic deals and employee performance. This paper contributes to employee performance literature through flexibility idiosyncratic deals and Leader-Member exchange affect lens of antecedents, as well as the Ideals and Social exchange theories. Recommendations and areas of further study were drawn from the findings.

Keywords: Flexibility idiosyncratic deals, Leader-Member-Exchange-Affect, Employee Performance