Dr. John Maslyn, professor of management, along with colleagues from Durham University and Wichita State University recently published a research paper entitled “Attachment Style and Leader-Member Exchange: The Role of Effort to Build High Quality Relationships” in Leadership & Organizational Development Journal.
The study examines employee psychological attachment styles (secure, anxious and avoidant) as antecedents to the nature and quality of the relationships they develop with their managers. Attachment styles were found to be differentially predictive of relationship quality based on whether they impacted it directly or only as precursor to the efforts employees exerted with their managers toward building such relationships.