The role of distance in shaping relationship quality between leaders and followers

Understanding how leaders and followers build good relationships is important because high-quality relationships have been linked to both individual and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction and higher performance. However, previous research has insufficiently considered the role the organizational context may play in shaping how these leader-follower relationships develop. In the present qualitative study, nineteen police officers took part in semi-structured interviews to identify how relationship quality is influenced by distance. An inductive analysis identified that four types of distance created by the organizational design of the police force, namely geographical, temporal, task and strategic distance, shaped relationship quality through reducing interaction potential between leaders and their followers. Furthermore, these types of distance appeared to limit the availability of communication channels which further contributed to reduced interaction potential. However, when leaders and followers were familiar with each other, interaction potential appeared to be less affected. The findings advance understanding of the development of leader-follower relationships by highlighting that distance is fundamental to understanding leader-follower relationships but is likely to vary across organizational levels thereby shaping opportunities for interaction differentially.