When Interpersonal Competition Helps and When It Harms: An Integration via Challenge and Threat

Abstract

Interpersonal competition is ubiquitous in organizations and is studied across a variety of disciplines. However, these literatures have developed in parallel with little integration, stunting scholarly progress and leaving researchers and practitioners uncertain as to whether competition within organizations is beneficial versus harmful. This review attempts to resolve these issues. First, we define interpersonal competition as existing when an individual desires, and directs behavior toward, attaining relative superiority over other(s) on a particular dimension. Second, we review the empirical research on the consequences of interpersonal competition, focusing on the factors that determine when interpersonal competition is helpful versus harmful for individual and interpersonal outcomes in organizations, while highlighting the common mechanisms that appear to underlie these factors. This prior work suggests when competition is appraised as a challenge, its downsides are mitigated and its benefits are most evident. Conversely, when competition is appraised as a threat, its downsides become most evident. We hope this review provides an entry point for scholars interested in interpersonal competition and a more parsimonious account of its consequences.