This article examines the role of leadership in the development of academic talent in higher education from a social exchange and organizational support perspective. Drawing from a sample of academic staff at a large South African university, the study investigates the extent to which a quality leader-member exchange relationship versus a formal organizational resource perspective contributes to academic staff perceptions of organizational investment in academic talent development. The study found new evidence of the ways in which relationship resources embodied in the leader-member exchange relationship between supervisors (leaders) and employees (followers) influence employees' perceptions of investment in their development. The results also demonstrated how the leader-member exchange theory, combined with theoretical work on organizational development support, could help to explain the critical role of department heads as leaders in developing academic staff (as followers).