Voice in Reaction to Being Envied: The Self-Esteem Mechanisms Under the Agency-Communion Framework

Abstract

Being envied in the workplace can make the target feel good for being superior to peers in certain aspects but can also make the target feel bad for not being liked by peers. These paradoxical feelings can have different effects on the envied employees’ behaviors, especially public behaviors that are observable to the peers. Based on the agency-communion framework, our research investigated how and when being envied affects one’s public voice. Field data from a service company found that being envied enhanced self-esteem in the agency domain (i.e. organizational-based self-esteem), which in turn increased public voice. This positive indirect effect was stronger when competitive climate was higher rather than lower. Meanwhile, being envied increased self-esteem threat in the communion domain (i.e. social self-esteem threat), which in turn inhibited public voice. This negative indirect effect was stronger when task interdependence was higher rather than lower. These findings suggest that, depending on the team contexts, employees' perception of being envied can either facilitate or impede their public voice by either enhancing their self-esteem in the agency domain or threatening their self-esteem in the communion domain, respectively. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.