EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE MODERATING ROLE OF LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE (A STUDY ON THE FAST-FASHION RETAIL INDUSTRY)

This study investigated the knowledge gap in the retail sector by exploring the relationship between job satisfaction, counterproductive work behavior, and organizational citizenship behavior on employee performance moderated by leader-member exchange. The quantitative study used a survey method to collect data with purposive sampling and technique. The survey was conducted on 150 employees from 17 Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (JABODETABEK) outlets. The data was analyzed using the structural equation modeling partial least square technique processed with smart-pls 3.3.3 tools. The study's findings were as follows: job satisfaction negatively and significantly affected counterproductive work behavior, counter-productive work behavior affected organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational citizenship behavior positively and significantly affected employee performance. In the meantime, leader-member exchange moderated job satisfaction's effect on counterproductive work behavior and employee performance but did not moderate counterproductive work behavior's effect on organizational citizenship behavior. The research had novelty from the aspect of a specific sample characteristic: the employees of the fast-fashion retail. It used a conceptual framework that combined theories of job satisfaction, counterproductive work behavior, organizational citizenship behavior, and leader-member exchange to explain employee performance, which had never been done in previous studies in the fast-fashion retail context.


Introduction
As one of the fundamental economic sectors that significantly contribute to Indonesian economic growth, the ups and downs in the performance of retail companies in recent quarters make this phenomenon attractive to investigate further.As shown in Figure 1, the growth of the actual sales index touched 8.5% in April 2022.The most significant contraction occurred in December 2022 by 0.7% and worsened in January 2023 at -0.6%.Although the index bounced back to positive growth in March 2023 at 4.9%, this industry has yet to return to its positive performance in the past.
The retail industry, one of the most competitive industries still trying to recover from the pandemic effects, certainly needs to innovate and improve its performance continually.One of the growing retail industries in Indonesia is fast-fashion retail.Based on data, the growth of fast-fashion retail will continue to increase every year, and the market volume in 2025 is projected to reach 10,526 million dollars.In order to take advantage of this enormous potential, fast-fashion retail companies must continue to innovate and improve their company's performance.
One of the variables that may affect a company's performance is employee performance (Buttkus & Eberenz, 2019).Employee performance (EP) in the retail industry is instrumental in achieving competitive advantage and customer satisfaction as employees in the retail industry typically interact directly with customers, which may eventually affect customer perception and satisfaction with the brand and store.As a result, it is fundamental to identify the factors affecting employees' performance in the retail sector.
OCB (organizational citizenship behavior) is a variable that may directly affect employee performance.OCB is when employees go above and beyond duty calls to support their co-workers or offer new ideas.OCB is voluntary, with no financial award involved.OCB may improve overall organizational productivity and effectiveness.It may also positively affect EP (Sugianingrat et al., 2019).
Employees demonstrating OCB tend to perform better because they go the extra mile by, among others, helping co-workers, or offering fresh ideas for the company.In addition, OCB may also boost the productivity and effectiveness of the organization as a whole.For that reason, low OCB levels among employees may result in poor company performance.
OCB may be affected by adverse employee performance or counterproductive work behavior (CWB) (Capitano & Cunningham, 2018).CWB is a harmful work behavior that involves employees' wrongdoings, harming the organization, such as skipping work, being late to work, evading responsibility, sabotaging work processes, or even stealing.This behavior may inflict financial and non-financial losses and affect other employees' productivity and performance.Organizations must eventually prevent adverse work behavior and promote positive OCB (Griep & Vantilborgh, 2018).
Previous studies suggest that job satisfaction (JS) may affect CWB.Employees dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to commit actions harming the organization, such as skipping work, being late to work, or even stealing (Machova, Zsigmond, Zsigmondova & Seben, 2022) due to several factors, including low motivation, disrespect, or dissatisfaction with the work environment.Therefore, organizations must create job satisfaction and a positive work environment to prevent adverse behavior.
This study explores how JS, CWB, and OCB affect EP in the retail industry by looking at the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) as the moderating variable.Several studies have examined the impact of JS, CWB, and OCB on EP in various industries.However, this study deals explicitly with these variables in the retail industry, considering the limited discussion of the role of LMX as the moderating variable.
This study seeks practical benefits for managers and leaders in the retail industry.Understanding how JS, CWB, and OCB affect employee performance may help managers design policies and practices that foster a positive work environment and encourage OCB.In addition, an understanding of LMX's role in these relationships may assist managers in strengthening positive professional relations between superiors and subordinates, building trust, and improving effective communication, which eventually will contribute to improved employee performance in the fast-fashion retail industry (Graves & Luciano, 2010;Harris, Li & Kirkman, 2014;Kim & Koo, 2017;Newman, Schwarz, Cooper, & Sendjaya, 2017;Audenaert, Decramer, George, Verschuere & Waeyenberg, 2019)

Job Satisfaction (JS)
Job satisfaction is an employee's positive perspective on his work, which enhances the workplace environment.It demonstrates the employee's wellbeing and desire to work harder.(Hoppock, 1935;Staw & Ross, 1985).
Satisfied employees are more likely to work hard to proudly contribute to and represent the company, reducing their likelihood of quitting.Job satisfaction is also a workplace happiness indicator (Judge, Heller & Mount, 2002;Kinicki, Schriesheim, McKee-Ryan & Carson, 2002).Job satisfaction negatively affects CWB.CWB involves, among others, sabotaging, dissuading, or slowing down production, assaulting and verbally abusing co-workers (Nemteanu & Dabija, 2021).
Job satisfaction affects CWB because satisfied employees behave positively at work and are less likely to harm the company or co-workers.In this case, the higher the employee's job satisfaction level, the lower their likelihood of doing CWB (Zhang & Deng, 2016).
Through perceived organizational support and career satisfaction, job satisfaction may influence counterproductive work behavior (CWB).In other words, the higher an employee's job satisfaction, the more likely he will feel supported by the organization and be satisfied with his career, thus reducing the likelihood of showing counterproductive behavior at work.On the contrary, if an employee is unsatisfied with his job, his likelihood of displaying counterproductive behavior will also increase (Jawahar & Stone, 2017).
Low job satisfaction may trigger counterproductive work behavior as a response to unpleasant workplace incidents or as a mechanism to cope with monotonous daily routines.Meanwhile, individuals with high job satisfaction will likely feel more comfortable and be satisfied with their jobseventually becoming less affected by workplace stress and pressure that may trigger CWB (Czarnota-Bojarska, 2015).
Previous studies show that job satisfaction is inversely proportional to CWB.If work-related stress generates CWB, sound relations among employees and an encouraging work atmosphere will increase job satisfaction.In essence, job satisfaction reduces CWB at the workplace.H1: JS has negative and significant impacts on CWB.

Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
CWB is a counterproductive work behavior displayed by employees that may harm the organization or their co-workers.This behavior involves violating organizational rules or norms, such as stealing or falsifying documents, harming co-workers or the organization, wasting time or resources, or bullying or intimidating co-workers (Spector, 2011).
CWB can influence the behavior of organizational citizens (OCBs) through several mechanisms.CWB may break trust and support between employees, preventing OCB from materializing.In addition, CWB can also create an unhealthy and unpleasant work environment, which can affect employee motivation to perform OCB.In some cases, CWB even triggers countermeasures from colleagues or the management and prevents OCB from materializing (Jawahar & Stone, 2017).
Employees displaying CWB tend to be less involved in OCB, be it OCB-O (OCB targeted at organizations) or OCB-I (OCB targeted at interpersonal relationships), as they tend to exhaust organizational and individual resources discouraging them from demonstrating OCB (Mercado & Dilchert, 2017).Griep and Vantilborgh (2018) state that psychological contract breaches (PCs), sentiments of violation, CWB, and OCB are related.The study demonstrates that the higher the CWB level of an employee, the less likely he is to practice OCB.In other words, CWB can reduce an employee's likelihood of displaying OCB.Several factors are attributable to this condition.First, employees displaying CWB may feel less attached to the organization and show little to no concern for the organization's overall interests.Second, employees dissatisfied with the management or work environment may display CWB as a revenge mechanism or channel of dissatisfaction (Capitano & Cunningham, 2018).H2: CWB has negative and significant impacts on OCB.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
OCB is voluntary behavior exhibited by employees beyond their actual duties.OCB includes behaviors that benefit the organization in the forms of, among others, helping co-workers, providing emotional support, and participating in organizational activities.OCB is not included in the formal duties of employees.However, it can help improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency and create a positive work environment (Becton, Carr, Mossholder & Walker, 2017).OCB is classified into two types, namely, maintenance-oriented and change-oriented behaviors.Both may help improve employee performance by maintaining or changing organizational procedures and policies (Shin, Hur, Moon & Lee, 2019).
OCB may affect employee performance because this voluntary behavior may improve the effectiveness of the overall performance of an organization.By displaying OCB, employees can help increase productivity and work efficiency in the workplace and create a positive and harmonious work environment.It may also motivate employees to work better and contribute more to the organization.Therefore, OCB may positively affect employee performance and the organization (Shao, Zhou, Gao, Long & Xiong, 2019).Employees displaying OCB tend to have more positive professional relations with co-workers and the management and may improve overall organizational productivity and effectiveness.Therefore, OCB can positively affect employee performance (Bohle, Bal, Jansen, Leiva & Alonso, 2017).
OCB behavior may affect employee performance because it increases work effectiveness and efficiency.When employees practice OCB behaviors by, among others, assisting co-workers or coming up with new ideas, it can boost productivity and the overall quality of work.In addition, OCB behavior may also improve job satisfaction because employees will feel valued and recognized by the organization.High job satisfaction may increase employee motivation and organizational commitment -thus improving overall performance (Cek & Eyupoglu, 2019).H3: OCB has positive and significant impacts on EP.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
LMX (Leader-Member Exchange) is a concept that refers to the relationship between a leader and his team members.Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) emphasize that constructive relations between leaders and team members may improve EP and JS.In LMX, the leader is considered a mentor or coach to his team members, and constructive relations can improve overall individual and group performance.
Di Stefano, Venza, and Aiello (2020) suggest that employees' perception of LMX quality is a mediating factor in the relationship between job insecurity and job-related symptoms, job satisfaction, and the intention to shift jobs.Moreover, the result demonstrates that this association is prevalent among employees reporting higher levels of perceived organizational support.LMX helps explain how job insecurity affects those outcomes through the relations between leaders and team members.Graves and Luciano (2010) add that the impact of LMX on JS may arise from its ability to fulfill employees' fundamental needs for competence, autonomy, and meaningful connections with others.The satisfaction of these needs then affects the employee's autonomous motivationeventually improving job satisfaction.As a result, a strong connection between leaders and team members will result in increased work engagement and decreased emotional exhaustion, decreasing the likelihood of CWB (Lebrón, Tabak, Shkoler, & Rabenu, 2018).The quality of relations between LMX also affects CWB.When the relationship is ruinous, it results in higher levels of subordinates' resentment and higher CWB levels (Newton & Perlow, 2021).The influence of LMX on the relationship between envy and CWB has been studied across various organizational contexts, including public and private organizations.The results suggest that LMX can be an essential factor in preventing or reducing the negative consequences of resentment on employee behavior (González-Navarro, Zurriaga-Llorens, Olateju & Llinares-Insa, 2018).
In addition, Jawahar and Stone (2017) suggests that the association between perceptual justice and OCB becomes more vital as the levels of LMX increase.Nevertheless, the more constructive the relationship between the leader and team members is, the more solid the link between perceived justice and OCB and the higher the likelihood of positive organizational citizen behavior in the workplace.Strong LMX relations can enhance subordinates' OCB through balanced and fair social exchange.With strong LMX connections and maintained balanced social exchanges with leaders, subordinates often volunteer outside their job tasks (Newman et al., 2017).Harris et al. (2014) assert that a good LMX can increase employee trust, commitment, and satisfaction with the organization, thus encouraging them to practice OCB by, among others, giving more contributions at work.However, a poor or low LMX can reduce employee motivation to practice OCB.As a result, organizations are advised to prioritize LMX quality to promote OCB in the workplace.
LMX has positive effects on employee performance.Employee performance is directly proportional to leader-team member connection quality as LMX factually translates to better communication, more significant support, and more explicit expectations between leaders and team members (Kim & Koo, 2017;Reb, Chaturvedi, Narayanan & Kudesia, 2019).Good LMX may result in job satisfaction and motivation, thus positively affecting employee performance (Audenaert et al., 2019).H4a: LMX significantly moderates the impact of job satisfaction on CWB.H4b: LMX significantly moderates the impact of CWB's effect on OCB.H4c: LMX significantly moderates the impact of OCB's effect on EP.

Employee Performance (EP)
Employee performance (EP) assesses how well an employee meets the company's goals and requirements (Schuler & Jackson, 1987).Employee performance can be measured through various methods, such as performance evaluation, productivity measurement, and achievement of sales targets (Dessler & Varkkey, 2020).Employee performance can also be presented qualitatively as, among others, a description of the employee's ability to work with colleagues and initiative in completing tasks and overcoming problems.Employee performance can help an organization achieve its business goals and increase customer satisfaction and company profits (Schuler & Jackson, 1987;Dessler & Varkkey, 2020).Koopmans, Bernaards, Hildebrandt, de Vet, and van der Beek (2014) explained two measures of employee performance: task performance and contextual performance.

Research Methods
This type of research is a survey with a quantitative approach.Data collection techniques using questionnaires.The sampling method uses non-probability with purposive sampling technique.The survey was conducted in the period from September to December 2022.The data obtained was collected from questionnaires handed out to the respondents.Table 1 shows 150 employees from 17 stores spread across the JABODETABEK area.The data was then analyzed using SEM-PLS with SMARTPLS tool version 3.3.3with three stages of the testing process: outer model test, inner model, and hypothesis.The operationalization of variables for measurement was adapted from various prior studies.JS variables adopt the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) measurement in the Ofei-Dodoo, Scripter, Kellerman, Haynes, Marquise, and Bachman's (2018) study, consisting of 10 items.CWB variables adopt Szostek (2017), which consists of 23 items.OCB variables adopt from Bennett and Robinson's (2000), which have 19 items, and EP variables adopt Koopmans et al. (2014) with 19 items, while LMX variables adopt from Graen and Uhl-Bien's (1995) with seven items.

Results and Discussion
Table 3 shows that the demographics of respondents in terms of gender are primarily female, as many as 59% and 41% male.In terms of age, the majority of respondents are in the age range 24-30, as much as 46%, followed by the age range> 30, as much as 36%, while the age range 18-23 is 18%, where most of the respondents are single as much as 61% and 39% are married.Regarding the employment status of most respondents, 55% are contract employees, and 45% are permanent employees.53% of employees have worked within 1-3 years, 30% within 4-6 years, and 17% have worked for more than six years.Table 4 shows the result of the convergent validity test with loading factor parameters.The result demonstrates that all indicators of the latent variable are > 0.7, which shows a strong relation between the measurement variable and its factor, making the test valid (Hair, Hult, Ringle & Sarstedt, 2016).Table 5 illustrates the evaluation of convergent validity using the average variance extracted (AVE) parameter.The findings reveal that all latent variables are greater than 0.5 -indicating that the indicators within each construct consistently and accurately measure the respective construct (Hair et al., 2016).Table 6 shows the result of the discriminant validity test with cross-loading parameters, demonstrating that the correlation value between items with each latent variable is greater than the item correlation of a latent variable with other variables.It can be concluded that the result met the discriminant validity testing requirements (Hair et al., 2016).
Table 7 shows the Fornell-larcker discriminant validity test.The results suggest that a construct has excellent validity if its AVE value is more extensive than its quadratic correlation with other constructs in the model (Hair et al., 2016).Table 8 shows the reliability test results with Cronbach's Alpha and composite reliability parameters.The findings indicate that all parameter values are greater than 0.70, proving that the measuring tool used in this study is reliable (Hair et al., 2016).Table 9 shows the result of the inner model test with the R-square parameter, demonstrating that there are three adjusted R-square values, namely the CWB variables (0.790), the EP variables (0.626), and the OCB variables (0.615).Based on these findings, it can be inferred that the structural model in this study falls within the category of moderate to strong.The Rsquare value is considered significant if it is greater than 0.67 and moderate if it is greater than 0.33 (Chin, 1998).Table 10 is the result of the inner model test with the SRMR parameter approach.The result shows that the SRMR parameter value in the estimated model is 0.074 < 0.08, meaning this research model is reliable (Hair et al., 2016).Table 11 shows that from the six hypotheses, one hypothesis is rejected, namely the effect of CWB on OCB moderated by LMX as its significance value is > 0.05, meaning the LMX variable does not moderate the influence of CWB on OCB so that the alternative hypothesis is rejected.Meanwhile, the other five hypotheses are accepted as their significance values are < 0.05, indicating significant impacts of CWB on OCB, JS on CWB, OCB on EP, and LMX variables may significantly moderate the effect of JS on CWB and OCB on EP.

JS and CWB
As previously stated, the findings indicate a negative impact between job satisfaction (JS) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB).It implies that individuals employed in retail establishments with higher levels of job satisfaction are less inclined to engage in disruptive actions, such as theft, fraudulent behavior, absenteeism, providing subpar service to customers, and exhibiting lower levels of hostile conduct.It aligns with Nemteanu and Dabija (2021), who suggest that low job satisfaction may increase the likelihood of CWB in the workplace.CWB may involve sabotage, manufacturing delay, harming coworkers, or committing verbal abuse.Job satisfaction can affect CWB as employees who are satisfied with their jobs tend to engage in more positive behaviors and are less likely to take actions that harm their organization or co-workers (Zhang & Deng, 2016).Czarnota-Bojarska (2015) suggests that CWB can negatively affect job satisfaction if employees feel guilty or are concerned about the consequences of the action.Therefore, companies are suggested to create a positive and supportive work environment to allow employees to feel satisfied with their work, ultimately diminishing the likelihood of CWB in the workplace.

CWB and OCB
The result shows negative and statistically significant influences of CWB on OCB, indicating that the higher the CWB value, the lower the OCB or voluntary willingness of store employees towards assisting colleagues and lower enthusiasm in boosting performance.Jawahar and Stone (2017) suggest that the higher the level of CWB practiced by employees, the lower their perception of support for the organization and their co-workers will be, which will slash the motivation to engage in volunteering activities in the forms of, among others, assisting or suggesting new ideas to enhance organizational performance.Employees displaying CWB tend to exhaust organizational and individual resources, preventing them from practicing OCB.In addition, employees displaying CWB may feel less attached to the organization and less motivated to undertake voluntary actions such as OCB (Mercado, 2017).Griep and Vantilborgh (2018) also suggest that CWB can harm the relations between employees and co-workers or superiorsdiminishing the motivation to perform organizational citizenship actions such as OCB.Therefore, companies should strive to reduce CWB to improve employee participation in OCB.Fast-fashion retail often operates in a dynamic environment with rapid changes in fashion trends and product inventories (Parker-Strak, Barnes, Studd, & Doyle, 2020).This unpredictability can create additional pressure on store employees, leading to CWBs in response to unexpected changes.They tend to focus more on completing urgent tasks than participating in OCB.

OCB and EP
The result demonstrates that OCB positively and significantly affects EP.In the context of this study, voluntary behavior to advance store performance will encourage and motivate store employees to improve their performance.Bohle et al. (2017) suggest that OCB can affect employee performance as OCB behavior may increase job satisfaction and employee motivation.Employees who feel valued and recognized by the organization tend to be more motivated to perform excellent jobs and contribute to the organization's success.OCB behavior may also improve the working relations between employees and the management, resulting in a more positive and productive work environment (Shin et al., 2019).Employees displaying OCB behaviors by, among others, helping colleagues or offering new ideas for the company may increase work effectiveness and efficiency, which will ultimately positively affect employee performance, productivity, and overall work quality (Cek & Eyupoglu, 2019).Employees who are active in OCB tend to focus on customer satisfaction and strive to provide a positive shopping experience.It can increase customer loyalty and improve the image of the retail store (Pei Guo, Wu, Zhou, & Yeh, 2020).

LMX Moderates JS, CWB, and OCB on EP
This study demonstrates that LMX significantly moderates JS compared to CWB and OCB compared to EP but not CWB compared to OCB.In this study, LMX refers to the relations between store managers and employees.As a result, a sound relation may prevent dissatisfied workers from displaying CWB.Czarnota-Bojarska (2015) suggests that low job satisfaction may trigger counterproductive work behavior in response to unpleasant incidents at work or as an attempt to escape boredom.Poor relations between leaders and team members may increase the resentment of subordinates, which in turn may increase CWB levels (Newton, 2021).In conclusion, the role of LMX is significant in strengthening JS's effect on CWBs.
Similarly, the role of LMX may also strengthen the influence of OCB on EP, thus boosting the performance of store employees.Strong LMX relations with leaders make subordinates feel valued and respected, motivating them to display positive voluntary behavior beyond their duties as a manifestation of the solid LMX relation (Newman et al., 2017).In addition, a good LMX can also improve communication between employees and supervisors, allowing better coordination and collaboration in the team.It can strengthen social bonds between team members and encourage them to help each other achieve common goals (Harris et al., 2014).When constructive relations are fostered, better communication, support, and explicit expectations between leaders and team members may materialize.It can increase employee motivation and confidence to motivate them to work well and achieve organizational goals (Kim & Koo, 2017).As a result, LMX also plays an essential role in amplifying OCB's effect on EP.
However, LMX cannot moderate the influence of CWB on OCB, meaning that good relations between store managers and employees cannot shift behavior from CWB to OCB.This study reveals that high LMX will not contribute to preventing CWB behavior, which will ultimately degrade OCB behavior.As a result, organizations must carefully manage job satisfaction to minimize CWB behavior.LMX cannot reduce CWB's effect on OCB due to other factors not examined in this study, such as organizational culture and work pressure (Khan, Ismail, Hussain & Alghazali, 2020;Shanker, 2018).

Conclusions and Implications
Theoretically, this study contributes to explain that the theories of job satisfaction, counterproductive work behavior, civic behavior, and leader-member exchange can be used to explain employee performance in the fast-fashion retail industry.The practical implication of this study is that organizations are advised to carefully maintain the satisfaction of store employees and store managers to minimize CWB behavior that can harm the organization to the lowest level possible while promoting OCB behavior to maintain and improve employee performance.The role of the leader or store manager is also crucial since, as demonstrated by this study, good relations between store employees and store managers can strengthen the influence of JS on CWB and OCB on EP.Therefore, organizations must be prudent in appointing store managers to allow them to play their professional roles optimally, especially in managing the store work atmosphere to keep it sound and conducive, eventually allowing employees to display a positive, effective, efficient, and productive work attitude.However, the study has a limitation: the generalization of study results needs to be done with caution because this study was only conducted in one fast-fashion retail brand in JABODETABEK.