Moderating Role of Self-efficacy on Benign Envy—Employee Engagement Relationship

Abstract

Perception of negative emotions including envy is on rise specifically in private organizations, which has important implications on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. This study examined the relationship between benign envy (one of the two forms of envy) and employee engagement. Furthermore, mechanisms underlying benign envy–outcome relationship are not well understood. To enhance this knowledge, this study investigated self-efficacy as a mechanism in understanding the relationship between benign envy and employee engagement. Relying on cross-sectional study design, data were gathered from 107 employees at two different point of times from private organizations of the service sector. Self-report measures comprising of all variables of the study were adopted. Data were analyzed and interpreted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 21. Correlations and moderated regression analyses revealed that benign envy is not significantly related to employee engagement. However, the results revealed that the interaction term of benign envy and self-efficacy had significant influence on employee engagement, that is, the relationship between the two variables became significant under the condition of high self-efficacy. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed and the article concluded with an outline for possible future research.