An AS –employee relationship may also be explained by leader –member exchange
theory (Deluga, 1998), which asserts that leaders develop an exchange with their
subordinates, and that the quality of these leader –member exchanges influences the
subordinates’ responsibility, influence over decisions, access to resources and
performance. Thus, the application of leader –member exchange theory to the current
research would indicate that AS may relate to JRG and NJG, because AS has been found to
produce a sense of incongruence between individual members and their organisation. Such
a sense of incongruence then evolves and becomes a motivation for gossip. For example,
Mr X said that the manager was totally useless and he just has a leg in the boardroom, and
Mrs Y said that the manger should be sacked as he has no subject knowledge and receives
no respect in the team (both examples above are JRG). Mr X said that the manager was an
alcoholic and recently divorced, explaining why he always shouted to his subordinates,
and Mrs Y said that the team leader just broke up with her boyfriend and hence was very
moody at work (both examples above are NJG).