Keywords
team-member exchange
happiness at work
burnout
mobbing
How to Cite
Abstract
This research, relying on the social exchange theory, aims to provide information on the moderating effect of leader-member exchange (LMX) and team member exchange (TMX) on happiness at work in the face of the prevalence of organizational stressors such as burnout and mobbing. This study used an electronic questionnaire to collect data from 416 employees of companies located in Mexico. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results showed that LMX and TMX moderate the effect of burnout and mobbing on happiness at work. The findings suggest that a functional organization should be favored in terms of work climate, as well as strengthening LMX and TMX relationships to avoid the negative effects of burnout and mobbing on employee well-being.
Alkhateeb, M., Althabaiti, K., Ahmed, S., Lövestad, S., & Khan, J. (2025). A systematic review of the determinants of job satisfaction in healthcare workers in health facilities in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Global Health Action, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2025.2479910
Blau, P. (1986). Exchange and power in social life (2rd ed.). Routledge.
Bornstein, M. H., Jager, J., & Putnick, D. L. (2013). Sampling in developmental science: Situations, shortcomings, solutions, and standards. Developmental Review, 33(4), 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2013.08.003
Brimhall, K. C., Lizano, E. L., & Barak, M. E. M. (2014). The mediating role of inclusion: A longitudinal study of the effects of leader–member exchange and diversity climate on job satisfaction and intention to leave among child welfare workers. Children and Youth Ser-vices Review, 40, 79-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.003
Chávez, J. P. M., López-Chau, A., & Pérez, M. G. (2018). Estudio sobre la relación entre mobbing y la satisfacción laboral en docentes de instituciones de educación superior en México. European Scientific Journal, 14(4), 298. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2018.v14n4p298
Chen, C., & Liu, X. (2020). Linking team-member exchange differentiation to team creativity. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(2), 208-219. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2019-0288
Chernyak-Hai, L., & Rabenu, E. (2018). The new era workplace relationships: Is social exchange theory still relevant?. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 11(3), 456-481. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2018.5
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602
Erdogan, V., & Yildirim, A. (2019). The relationship between exposure to mobbing and job satisfaction among healthcare professionals in Northern Cyprus. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 67, 154-168. https://doi.org/10.33788/rcis.67.10
Fadare, O. O., Doucette, W. R., Gaither, C. A., Schommer, J. C., Arya, V., Bakken, B. K., Kreling, D. H., Mott, D. A., & & Witry, M. J. (2022). Exploring the moderating role of job resources in how job demands influence burnout and professional fulfillment among US pharmacists. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 18(10), 3821-3830. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2022.04.003
Fan, X., Li, J., Mao, Z. E., & Lu, Z. (2021). Can ethical leadership inspire employee loyalty in hotels in China? -From the perspective of the social exchange theory. Journal of Hospital-ity and Tourism Management, 49, 538-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.11.006
Fidalgo, A. M., & Piñuel, I. (2004). La escala Cisneros como herramienta de valoración del mobbing. Psicothema, 16(4), 615-624. https://www.psicothema.com/psicothema.asp?id=3041
Galanis, P., Moisoglou, I., Katsiroumpa, A., & Mastrogianni, M. (2024). Association between workplace bullying, job stress, and professional quality of life in nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Healthcare, 12(6), 623. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12060623
García-Contreras, R., Muñoz-Chávez, J. P., Pineda-Celaya, L., & Rodríguez-Morales, J. I. (2022). Enfoque de intercambio social y felicidad en el trabajo: Explorando el efecto mediador del compromiso organizacional. Revista OBETS, 17(2), 221-236. https://doi.org/10.14198/OBETS2022.17.2.03
Gerhardt, C., Semmer, N. K., Sauter, S., Walker, A., de Wijn, N., Kälin, W., Kottwitz, M. U., Kersten, B., Ulrich, B., & Elfering, A. (2021). How are social stressors at work related to well-being and health? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 890. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10894-7
Godin, I., Desmarez, P., & Mahieu, C. (2017). Company size, work-home interference, and well-being of self-employed entrepreneurs. Archives of Public Health, 75, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-017-0243-3
Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90036-5
Green, S. B. (1991). How many subjects does it take to do a regression analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 26(3), 499–510. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2603_7
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Pearson Prentice.
Houghton, J. D., Oxarart, R. A., Heames, J. T., Buckley, M. R., & Carbo, J. A. (2021). Leader power and agency-communion orientations as moderators of the effects of organizational characteristics on workplace bullying. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 33(3), 235-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-021-09379-x
Islam, M. N., Dasgupta, D. P., Sultana, N., Yesmine, F., Asaduzzaman, M., Rabeya, M. R., & Ahmed, K. (2022). Factors associated with depression and determining dimensions of job satisfaction among physicians in Bangladesh. Heliyon, 8(9), e10589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10589
Jager, J., Putnick, D. L., & Bornstein, M. H. (2017). More than just convenient: The scientific merits of homogeneous convenience samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 82(2), 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/mono.12296
Kang, J., & Jang, J. (2022). Frontline employees' emotional labor toward their co-workers: The mediating role of team member exchange. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 102, 103130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103130
Lee, Y., Kim, M., & Koo, J. (2016). The impact of social interaction and team member exchange on sport event volunteer management. Sport Management Review, 19(5), 550-562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2016.04.005
Léné, A. (2024). Bullying, mental health and absenteeism: A moderated mediation approach. Evidence-based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, 12(1), 45-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-12-2021-0261
Liden, R. C., & Maslyn, J. M. (1998). Multidimensionality of leader-member exchange: An em-pirical assessment through scale development. Journal of Management, 24(1), 43-72. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639802400105
Lu, M. -H., Luo, J., Chen, W., & Wang, M. -C. (2022). The influence of job satisfaction on the relationship between professional identity and burnout: A study of student teachers in Western China. Current Psychology, 41, 289-297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00565-7
Luna-Arocas, R., & Danvila-del-Valle, I. (2021). Does positive wellbeing predict job performance three months later? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16(4), 1555-1569. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-020-09835-0
MacCallum, R. C., Widaman, K. F., Zhang, S., & Hong, S. (1999). Sample size in factor analysis. Psychological Methods, 4(1), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.4.1.84
Madigan, D. J., & Kim, L. E. (2021). Towards an understanding of teacher attrition: A meta-analysis of burnout, job satisfaction, and teachers’ intentions to quit. Teaching and Teacher Education, 105, 103425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103425
Marin, I., Fira-Mladinescu, C., Marin, C. N., Stan, V., & Ursoniu, S. (2024). An analysis of burnout, coping, and pulse wave velocity in relation to the workplace of healthcare workers for the sustainability of the medical career. Sustainability, 16(3), 997. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16030997
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205
Muñoz-Chávez, J. P., & López-Chau, A. (2022). Identificación de acoso laboral en docentes de educación superior basada en respuestas de satisfacción en el trabajo. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación Superior, 13(37), 42-62. https://doi.org/10.22201/iisue.20072872e.2022.37.1303
Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory (1st ed.). McGraw Hill.
Osborne, J. W., & Waters, E. (2002). Four assumptions of multiple regression that researchers should always test. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 8(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.7275/r222-hv23
Rodríguez-Cifuentes, F., Fernández-Salinero, S., Moriano, J. A., & Topa, G. (2020). Presenteeism, overcommitment, workplace bullying, and job satisfaction: A moderated mediation relationship. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8616. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228616
Salas-Vallina, A., Alegre, J., & Guerrero, R. F. (2018). Happiness at work in knowledge-intensive contexts: Opening the research agenda. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 24(3), 149-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2018.05.003
Schneider, M., & Somers, M. (2006). Organizations as complex adaptive systems: Implications of complexity theory for leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(4), 351-365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.04.006
Seers, A. (1989). Team-member exchange quality: A new construct for role-making research. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 43(1), 118-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(89)90060-5
Seong, J. Y., & Choi, J. N. (2019). Is person–organization fit beneficial for employee creativity? Moderating roles of leader–member and team–member exchange quality. Human Performance, 32(3-4), 129-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.2019.1639711
Shubayr, N., Faraj, H., Hurbush, M., Khormi, M., Alyami, A., Majrashi, N., & Alomairy, N. (2022). Assessment of job satisfaction, lifestyle behaviors, and occupational burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic among radiologic technologists in Saudi Arabia. Radiography, 28(4), 1087-1092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2022.07.015
Sigahi, T. F., Kawasaki, B. C., Bolis, I., & Morioka, S. N. (2021). A systematic review on the impacts of Covid‐19 on work: Contributions and a path forward from the perspectives of ergonomics and psychodynamics of work. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 31(4), 375-388. https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.20889
Singh, S., & Aggarwal, Y. (2018). Happiness at work scale: Construction and psychometric validation of a measure using mixed method approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19, 1439-1463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9882-x
Steele, N. M., Rodgers, B., & Fogarty, G. J. (2020). The relationships of experiencing workplace bullying with mental health, affective commitment, and job satisfaction: Application of the job demands control model. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(6), 2151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062151
Tan, C., Zhang, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). The mechanism of team-member exchange on knowledge hiding under the background of “Guanxi”. Journal of Business Research, 148, 304-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.04.063
Tanhan, F., & Çam, Z. (2011). The relation between mobbing behaviors teachers in elementary schools are exposed to and their burnout levels. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 2704-2709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.174
Thompson, A., & Bruk-Lee, V. (2021). Employee happiness: Why we should care. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16(4), 1419-1437.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09807-z
Vveinhardt, J., & Sroka, W. (2020). Innovations in human resources management: Instruments to eliminate mobbing. Marketing & Management of Innovations, (2), 182-195. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2020.2-13
Wu, W., Liu, Y., Kim, Y., & Gao, P. (2018). How does emotional conflict affect innovation behavior? The moderating roles of leader-member exchange and team-member exchange. International Journal of Conflict Management, 29(3), 327-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-09-2017-0094
Yin, W., Liao, S., Ouyang, X., Akhtar, M. N., & Zhou, X. (2023). I speak when boss back up my family: Testing the moderated mediation model of family supportive supervisor behavior and employee voice. Current Psychology, 42(11), 9017-9027. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02215-3
Zaman, A., Rousseeuw, P. J., & Orhan, M. (2001). Econometric applications of high-breakdown robust regression techniques. Economics Letters, 71(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1765(00)00404-3
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 J. Patricia Muñoz-Chávez, Rigoberto García-Contreras, Héctor Barrios-Quiroz, Rosa L. Muñoz-Chávez