The role of the perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange in developing the intention to engage in scholarly activities

Academic medical centers maintain their competitive advantage by offering innovative clinical treatments to patients and by sustaining a high level of scientific productivity from faculty members at their affiliated medical schools. In such centers, scientific productivity is measured by the number and quality of scientific articles published, conference presentations given, research grants awarded, and patents granted. These contributions are important not only to the institution but also to the individual faculty members for career advancement and progression of the field of study in which they specialize. Given the importance of faculty members’ scholarly contributions, it is imperative to better understand what factors influence their scientific productivity. One such factor is the social exchange between employee, leadership, and the organization at large; therefore, this study reviewed how faculty members’ perception of organizational support (POS) and leader-member exchange (LMX) would influence their attitude about scientific productivity through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). I also examined perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange influence on the relationship between perceived behavioral control (PBC) and behavioral intention by surveying faculty members from academic medical centers across the US that host NCI-designated cancer centers The results indicated that the perception of high-quality LMX was positively related to greater PBC and stronger intention to engage in scholarly activities. On the other hand, POS did not influence faculty members' attitudes or intent to engage in scholarly activities. Lastly, neither POS nor LMX enhanced or diminished faculty members’ intention to engage in scholarly activities once their attitude had been formed.