Antecedents and Consequences of Envy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between individual attributes and envy, and to determine how envy may impact personal response variables in the workplace. To address these issues we apply Vecchio's theory on antecedents and consequences of envy (1995) as a theoretical framework. The present study relied on a cross-sectional measurement design. A total of 135 leaders and 772 followers employed in business organizations participated. SEM analysis shows that span of supervision serves as an important antecedent of envy, where span of supervision is significantly associated to envy via supportive leadership. Furthermore, envy seems to be indirectly and negatively related to self-esteem via distress and directly related to social loafing. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.

You don’t actually want to get closer to the star: How LMX leads to workplace ostracism

“…As a result, when followers feel envious toward others who have higherquality LMX relationships, they are more likely to adopt destructive interpersonal behaviors to undermine the target. Research has shown that envy has been deemed to have the power to profoundly affect interpersonal relationships, creating conflict that can manifest as violence and aggression (Vecchio, 2000;Thompson et al, 2016). Previous research has supported the notion that an envious person may harm the envied person, which negatively alters the envied person's better outcomes (Kim & Glomb, 2014).…”

“…Third, our study shows that interpersonal comparison within a team could arouse emotional responses among team members. Given that extant research has identified many intra-person emotion inducers at work (Thompson et al, 2016), we identify an interpersonal emotion of being envied inducer (i.e., LMX), adding a significant piece of knowledge to the emotion literature.…”

Envy and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Moderation Role of Leadership in Public and Private Organizations

“…In fact, envy affects human relationships, generating hostility, competition between colleagues, or aggressive behaviors (see [ 5 ]). Envy is defined by Vecchio [ 6 ] as a “pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that result from an employee’s loss of self-esteem in response to a referent other’s obtainment of outcomes that one strongly desires” (p. 162).…”

“…This can be accomplished by either moving oneself up or pulling the other person down. In fact, previous research proposes envy as an antecedent of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) [ 5 , 7 , 8 ]. In the workplace, CWB are defined as actions directed towards other members of the organization with the objective of hurting them through threats, nasty comments, and ridicule, or by damaging their performance [ 9 ].…”

“…Envy can be adaptive because it helps the individual to be aware of personal limitations in his/her social-work status and take corrective actions. Therefore, envy can occur when there is a precipitating event (e.g., personal and contextual features) and the employee perceives that a coworker has what s/he wants in order to improve his/her social standing [ 5 ]. According to Equity theory [ 26 ], individuals expect that the amount invested and gained in a relationship should be proportional to what another person invests and gains [ 27 ].…”