The impact of implicit leadership theories on performance and the mechanism linking them have received insufficient theoretical and research attention. Drawing on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the present study contributes theory through examining the assertion that higher congruence between followers’ implicit leadership theory and the characteristics of supervisors enhance job performance through higher quality of leader–member exchange and self-efficacy. Moreover, in the proposed model, attachment insecurity was considered as the antecedent of the congruence and leader–member exchange in addition to the moderator of the relationship between them. Capitalizing upon Structural Equation Modeling -SEM-, this study tested the model in a field study using a sample of employees in knowledge- oriented firms in Iran. The results suggest that the congruence between followers’ implicit leadership theory and the characteristics of supervisors does not directly impact performance and leader–member exchange and self-efficacy are the full mediators. The results also showed that attachment insecurity is the predictor of neither the congruence nor the leader–member exchange. Additionally, attachment insecurity moderates the relationship between these two variables in a way that when attachment insecurity is high, the congruence has more positive impact on leader–member exchange.

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