Relationship between the Leader-Member Exchange and organizational identity from the perspective of Shared Mental Models

In organizations, the manifestations and implications of human behavior can be understood from studies on leadership. The theory of mental models emphasizes that individuals process information through the construction of cognitive models of the current situation and project these models to possible future scenarios. In this sense, organizational identity comprises what is central, distinctive, and enduring in the organization, based on beliefs shared by its members. The main objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between the Leader-member Exchange Theory and Organizational Identity from the mediation of Shared Mental Models of undergraduate, graduate, and administrative professors at a Community University. The study has a quantitative, descriptive, survey and cross-sectional approach. To that end, a survey of the teachers' perception was carried out through the application of an instrument composed of the measurement scale of Liden and Maslyn (1998) for the Leader-member Exchange Theory; the Mael and Ashforth (1992) scale for Organizational Identity; and the scale by Mathieu et.al (2000) comprising Shared Mental Models from 02 variables (team and task). The proposed solution sought at first to present a description of the variables followed by the reliability study and evaluation of the common method bias. After that, the hypotheses of mediation were tested through modeling of structural equations by composites, to compare and correlate the findings between the categories of responses of the sociodemographic variables took from the sample. From the two proposed mediation hypotheses, evidence has been found showing that the task-oriented shared mental model mediates the relationship between exchange leadership and organizational identity. The information present in the report allows discussing and supporting most of the hypotheses raised, it is understood that important advances for the development of this research topic can be concluded. This research can make theoretical contribution to the advancement of understanding of behavioral and cognitive issues in the educational context. Empirically, it reveals the potential to collaborate with subsidies for the creation of people management policies and practices, focusing on leadership.