The Impact of Leader-Follower Marital Status Similarity on Proactive Behavior

Despite a large number of studies examining demographic similarity in the organizational research, we have limited knowledge about the effect of marital status on leader-member exchange and employee outcomes. However, as a self-selected and value-laden demographic category, marital status may provide unique insights into the effects of social category similarity on leader-member exchange and proactive behavior. Using data from 518 employees and matched supervisors, we hypothesized and found that marital status similarity positively influenced employee proactive behavior through leader-member exchange and this effect was stronger when perceived leader integrity was high and weaker when perceived leader integrity was low. The proposed moderation of perceived integrity for social category similarity may provide insight into existing mixed findings on of the impact of diversity.