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Relational Demography and Relationship Quality in Two Cultures

Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

Katherine R. Xin

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong

Prior research has shown that demographic similarity between supervisors and sub-ordinates shapes supervisor-subordinate relationship quality in US settings. The current study extends this body of research by comparing effects in a US production facility to effects in a Mexican facility owned by the same company. Results suggest that, in both locations, demographic similarity influences the quality of relationships between supervisors and subordinates. The specific patterns in Mexico, however, are not identical to those in the United States. Age similarity has negative effects on relationship quality in Mexico, but not in the United States. Also, gender similarity has a stronger positive impact on one dimension of relationship quality (trust) in Mexico, but it has a stronger positive impact on a second dimension of relationship quality (leader-member exchange) in the United States. Both the overlap and disparities between demography effects in the two regions are important considerations when attempting to transfer human resource management practices, such as diversity management programmes, across the American-Mexican border

Key Words: demography • Mexico • supervisor • LMX • trust • subordinate

Organization Studies, Vol. 21, No. 6, 1077-1094 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840600216003


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