Being envied is not enviable! A study of the daily experience of being envied in the workplace

Abstract

Recent research on workplace envy has suggested that perceiving oneself as the target of coworker envy is a common and ambivalent experience. We integrate theory on sensitivity about being the target of threatening upward comparisons (STTUC) with that on emotion regulation to theorize that envied employees may need to manage these ambivalent states to avoid negative coworker reactions. Specifically, we posit that on a daily-basis envied employees will engage in surface acting to manage the ambivalent emotional states associated with being envied. However, this can take a toll on their self-regulatory resources, leaving them depleted. Self-regulatory resource depletion, in turn, will result in low job satisfaction and job performance. We further suggest that these day-level relationships will be stronger for people who are low as opposed to high in the tendency of viewing themselves as being envied as the experience of being envied will be a novel and uncommon one for these individuals. Results of a 3 week experience sampling study supported our hypotheses and showed that being envied in the workplace is a complex social experience that can influence employee's job performance and satisfaction.