A review of entitlement

Abstract

Interest in employee entitlement perceptions is increasing in academia and in organizations. Entitlement has a long history of being conceptualized as a personality trait in psychology closely aligned with narcissism. Research on workplace entitlement has generally revealed links with negative workplace behaviors, indicating costly outcomes for individuals, teams, and organizations. Our aim in this article is to review the literature on workplace entitlement perceptions, identifying how the construct has changed definition over time, and indicating related constructs that impact on research within industrial and organizational psychology. This review progresses research in this field by examining the nomological network around entitlement and resolving current inconsistencies in the construct definition of entitlement in the workplace, and establishing a set of firm future research directions for entitlement research.

The Role of Gendered Entitlement in Understanding Inequality in the Bedroom

“…Entitlement has been widely researched in psychological science, where either a social psychological or a personality psychology perspective was emphasized (for reviews, see Jordan et al, 2017; Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al, 2015). Although a variety of definitions of entitlement have been suggested, entitlement usually refers to “an individual’s belief in deserving preferential treatment or reward” (Jordan et al, 2017, p. 122).…”

Fulfillment of the employee psychological contract in a healthcare system: Does it drive employee engagement and reduce turnover intention?

“…Benefit expectations can vary among different employee groups, but they have certainly become more robust over time, based on what employees believe they are entitled to (Getz & Page, 2016). The phenomenon of entitlement has surged in recent years in both academia and industry, increasing the potential for negative impacts for employees, group interactions, organizational effectiveness, and workplace function, which in turn creates excessive costs (Jordan, Ramsay, & Westerlaken, 2016). Brummel and Parker (2015) noted the lack of consensus about the definition of the word entitlement, but it was described by Holderness, Olsen, and Thornock (2016) as "a mindset of deserving success, promotions, admiration, and commendation without demonstrating the merit, high performance or qualifications to warrant such rewards" (p. 42).…”

Should the Squeaky Wheel Get the Grease? The Organizational Impact of Rewarding Entitled or Proactive Employees

“…Therefore, managers may begin to reward bad behaviour to the detriment of the functioning of the workplace. If managers fail to meet the expectations of the highly entitled employee, the manager and their team may be forced to work with an employee who may retaliate against the organization and its employees (Fisk 2010;Jordan, Ramsay, & Westerlaken, 2017).…”

“…To measure entitlement more appropriately in the workplace, it is probably more effective to use not only trait measures of entitlement, but measures that emphasize organizational context in an effort to predict the behaviour of entitled employees. As this construct is relatively new, the research that does exist on entitlement in the workplace still relies mainly on trait (Jordan, Ramsay, & Westerlaken, 2017). Chow, Krahn, and Galambos (2014) demonstrated that in the workplace, those who are highly entitled often expect higher wages than their colleagues and expect to be rewarded with jobs without having the required qualifications.…”

“…This emphasis on expectations relating to the organization can be seen in the workplace entitlement scale that emphasizes accommodations at work, and in the employee entitlement scale that specifically mentions expecting rewards at work. These measures of entitlement were specific to the workplace and this may have enhanced their predictive ability (Jordan et al, 2017). While the current study suggests using the workplace entitlement scale for predicting counterproductive work behaviours, for another sample of workers who may be older or may be in full-time roles, their expectations from their workplace may be different (i.e., more promotions or career development) and the state measure of employee entitlement may be a more appropriate predictor of workplace outcomes (Naumann et al, 2002;O'Leary-Kelly, Rosen, & Hochwarter, 2017;Poehl & Cunningham, 2011).…”