Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) and change behaviors: the mediating role of LMX

Capitalizing upon Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) and Leader-member exchange (LMX), this research aims to explore the relationship between the congruence of employees’ ILTs and those traits of their managers and employees’ supportiveness, resistance and behavioral creativity for change. After distributing three questionnaires at three points among teachers, 296 participants completed all three questionnaires. Having conducted some confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), we utilized Latent Congruence Modeling (LCM) to analyze the final proposed models. The findings showed that the congruence has no direct effects on behavioral change responses. However, LMX can function as a full mediator. LMX has significant relationships with employees’ support and resistance for change. Nevertheless, the path coefficient was non-significant for behavioral creativity to change. This study, therefore, extends prevailing follower-centric perspective on leadership and strengthens its essence in organizational change with fundamental socio-cognitive research.