Social exchange theory in leadership research: A problematizing review

Abstract

Leadership scholars frequently use social exchange theory to explain leader-follower relations and the influence of leadership behaviors and styles. Yet, the richness of social exchange theory often contrasts with how it is applied in leadership research. Thus, our problematizing review interrogates how leadership research has operationalized social exchange theory and what has been lost in the process. We surfaced six assumptions that structure how leadership research applies the theory: exchange is defined as transactional, unidirectional and leader-initiated, static, inferred through indirect proxies, enacted by identity-neutral actors, and decontextualized. We show how these assumptions depart from social exchange theory’s original emphasis on emergent reciprocity, negotiated power, and structural embeddedness. Building on this critique, we propose a future research agenda that reconnects leadership research with social exchange theory’s sociological roots, which positions exchange as a dynamic, emergent, and uncertain process influenced by individual identities, negotiated through social interactions, and structured by organizational and cultural contexts.