Abstract:

This qualitative study analyzes the past 40 years of research on leader-member exchange through conducting bibliometric analysis. Using R and R Studio, articles on leader-member exchange that are published in the Web of Science have been analyzed. The findings of the bibliometric analysis reveal that a total of 4316 articles have been published on leader-member exchange, and the first article on the subject appeared in 1982. Further analysis uncovered that the highest number of articles on leader-member exchange has been published in 2022. Most of the body of literature on leader-member exchange are found in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Frontiers in Psychology, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. Y. Brunetto, R. C. Liden, and Y. Liu are the top three researchers that contributed most to the body of knowledge on leader-member exchange, and the top three affiliations are University of Illinois, Renmin University of China, and Michigan State University. The most productive countries are USA, China, and Australia; and the most frequently used words are “leader-member exchange”, “performance”, and “work”.

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