The “Frog” and the “Pond”: A Team Based Perspective on Social Comparison Theory

Abstract

Using social comparison theory and employing a “frog-pond” perspective, we argue that social comparisons in the workplace are dependent on relative individual performance, relative team performance, and the availability of external information. We argue that relative individual performance positively impacts employees’ self-evaluations and this relationship is further influenced by relative team performance such that the greatest evaluations will occur when individual and team performance are both high. Additionally, using the literature on upward and downward social comparisons, we argue that employees with relatively high individual performance will utilize external information for social comparisons when it is available, whereas those with relatively low individual performance will disregard external information and instead concentrate on individual and team performance. We examine our hypotheses through utilizing an in-box exercise with a sample of 322 participants.