“For better and (not) for worse”: humility congruence in leader-follower dyads, quality of LMX and leader fairness

Notwithstanding mounting attention for humility and other relationally relevant leadership behaviours, and their impact on follower outcomes, the literature shows an incomplete understanding of how both parties’ mutual humility perceptions shape their perceptions of relationship quality and fairness. This gap is concerning, considering that several features of work relationships can complicate relational dynamics (e.g. hierarchy, role expectations). Given these complicated dynamics, mutual perceptions of humility may drive relationship-quality and fairness. Drawing on the Dynamic Perception Model of Interpersonal Relations, we posit that humility has actor (social perception) and partner (behaviour elicitation) effects on perceived relationship quality in leader-follower dyads. Moreover, we argue that congruence in humility perceptions between leaders and their followers fosters the quality of leader-follower exchanges, ultimately shaping perceptions of leader fairness. Results from a five-wave, multi-source study among 259 leader-follower dyads, with 132 to 153 matched dyads included per analysis, indicate that both follower and leader humility are associated with high levels of perceived LMX. Additionally, high-level humility alignment (dyadic partner congruence) is associated with higher levels of LMX and perceived fairness than low-level alignment. Results also support the notion that LMX is the mechanism via which leader humility leads to followers’ perceived leader fairness.