The two faces of envy: perceived opportunity to perform as a moderator of envy manifestation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate, with a Pakistani sample, the destructive and constructive behavioral intentions associated with benign and malicious envy in the context of perceived opportunity to perform. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted two cross-sectional studies to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, data were obtained from students (n=90), whereas in Study 2, the authors used an executive sample (n=83). Findings The primary motivation of benign envy was to bring oneself up by improving performance on the comparison dimension, whereas the primary motive of malicious envy was to pull the envied other down. The relationship between malicious envy and behavioral “pulling down” intentions of derogating envied other was conditional on perceived opportunity on the comparison dimension. Consistent with a motive to improve self-evaluation, this study also found that perceived opportunity to perform interacted with benign envy to promote performance intentions on an alternative dimension. Furthermore, malicious envy was also associated with self-improving performance intentions on the comparison dimension, conditional upon perceived opportunity to perform. Practical implications Envy, depending on its nature, can become a positive or negative force in organizational life. The pattern of effects for opportunity structure differs from previous findings on control. The negative and positive effects of malicious envy may be managed by attention to opportunity structures. Originality/value This study supports the proposition that benign envy and malicious envy are linguistically and conceptually distinct phenomena, and it is the first to do so in a sample from Pakistan, a non-western and relatively more collectivistic culture. The authors also showed that negative and hostile envy-based behaviors are conditional upon the perceived characteristics of the context.

Co-worker reactions to i-deals through the lens of social comparison: The role of fairness and emotions

“…Meanwhile, high LMXSC could convert malicious envy or sympathy into positive behaviors as these emotions give employees a sense of control over the acquirement of better outcomes or the protection of their current superiority. This observation is consistent with Khan et al's (2017) study arguing that the self-esteem damaged because of malicious envy cannot be restored only by undermining the i-dealer. To fully achieve this restoration, one should also improve one's own situation, yet improvement is only possible when employees perceive that they are able to accomplish this goal.…”

“…This approach not only improves insight into the process through which co-workers react and the conditions under which they do so and how, but also contributes to the general emotions literature, which assumes that assimilative emotions mainly drive positive reactions, whereas contrastive emotions mainly foster negative ones (Lange and Boecker, 2019; Lange and Crusius, 2015; Li et al, 2019). Hence, we contribute to the scarce research examining the conditions under which this assumed logic is reversed, adding insight on the consequences of emotions (Khan et al, 2017; Lange et al, 2018a).…”

Envy: An Adversarial Review and Comparison of Two Competing Views

“…One approach focuses on distinct words that, in many languages, reflect this distinction. For example, participants recalled benign and malicious envy episodes prompted by the respective Dutch (Van de Ven et al, 2009; Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2012) and German (Crusius & Lange, 2014) words, or rated episodic envy using such words in Urdu (Khan, Bell, & Quratulain, 2017). The episodes differed in components that define emotions across theories (Keltner & Gross, 1999; Niedenthal & Ric, 2017): cognitions, feelings, goals, and action tendencies.…”

“…Conversely, benign envy predicts outcomes that may serve to level up the self. They include attentional bias toward means for achievement (Crusius & Lange, 2014), higher risk-taking for goal pursuit (Kwon, Han, & Nam, 2017), being inspired (Meier & Schäfer, 2018), increased goal setting (Lange & Crusius, 2015a), and more effort, persistence, and better performance (Khan et al, 2017; Lange & Crusius, 2015a, 2015b; Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2011b). A consistent pattern is that the measures of benign and malicious envy did not predict the consequences of the respective other form, supporting that they are independent.…”

Does employee envy trigger the positive outcomes at workplace? A study of upward social comparison, envy and employee performance

“…Most of the earlier research (Demirtas et al, 2017;Duffy et al, 2012;Erdil & Müceldili, 2014;Gino & Pierce, 2009;Khan et al, 2017;Lim & Yang, 2015;Smith & Kim, 2007;Tai et al, 2012;Thompson et al, 2015) were about the negative impacts of envy, but some later studies indicated that envy could arouse inspiration and motivation in people which could lead them to perform better (Cohen-Charash, 2009;Schaubroeck & Lam, 2004). A plethora of scholars possess a more ratified opinion on envy, explaining it as benign and admiring (van de Ven et al, 2009) free of illwill (Smith & Kim, 2007).…”