Self-evaluation Maintenance Model Research Articles

Employee reactions to perceived ‘non-talent’ designation: a social comparison perspective

Talent designation is one of the most sensitive and controversial topics in talent management. As organisations adopt workforce differentiation practices, a subset of employees is often considered ‘talent’, while other employees may implicitly perceive ‘non-talent’ status. Taking a social comparison perspective, we examine under which conditions employees are more likely to respond positively or negatively to perceived non-talent designation. Specifically, we draw on research on personal goals and extend the self-evaluation maintenance model. We argue that, contrary to common assumptions, perceived non-talent designation may not universally cause negative responses. Comparison can be experienced as inspiration or envy – depending on the relevance of talent status to one’s identity, attainability of talent status in the future, and a multitude of micro-, meso-, and macro-level contextual factors. This, in turn, shapes both employees’ approach motivation to gain talent status and self-serving attributions to defend non-talent status. In doing so, we provide a more nuanced understanding of employee reactions to perceived non-talent designation and highlight the value of dynamic talent designation in organisations.

Why do employees withhold knowledge? The role of competitive climate, envy and narcissism

PurposeBased on the self-evaluation maintenance model and social comparison theory, the purpose of this study is to test a novel model to explore the influence of competitive psychological climate on knowledge withholding of employees with the mediating role of envy. This study also investigated when the effect of climate on envy is more pronounced by assessing the role of a narcissistic personality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected time-lagged data from 376 employees working in UAE national banks to test the model.FindingsThe findings of this study showed that a competitive psychological climate indirectly affects knowledge withholding behaviour because such a climate enhances the emotional response of employee envy. In a competitive climate, upward social comparisons are likely to be heightened, resulting in employee envy and knowledge withholding because knowledge is used as leverage to gain self-control and self-worth in the organisation. This effect of such a climate on employee envy was found to be stronger when employees have a narcissistic personality.Originality/valueThe findings offer practical insights to managers and practitioners on the importance of managing the competitive climate cautiously to address the likelihood of knowledge withholding behaviour among employees at work.

Context-based interpersonal relationship modulates social comparison between outcomes: an event-related potential study

Social comparison is a common behavior that largely determines people’s experience of decision outcome. Previous research has showed that interpersonal relationship plays a pivotal role in social comparison. In the current study, we investigated whether the manipulation of context-based relationship would affect participants’ comparison of self-outcome and other-outcome. Participants first finished a trust game with likeable (dislikeable) partner and then they were involved in a gambling task and observed the outcomes for themselves and for partners. According to self-reports, participants were more satisfied with likeable partner’s gains than losses only when they received gains, but they were always more satisfied with dislikeable player’s losses compared to gains. Event-related potentials including the feedback-related negativity (FRN), P3 and late positive component (LPC) were sensitive to context-based relationship. Specifically, the prediction error signal (indexed by the FRN) was largest when participants received losses but dislikeable player received gains. Meanwhile, the P3 indicates that participants had stronger motivation to outperform dislikeable player. Finally, the LPC was larger when participants received the same outcomes with dislikeable players. In general, our results support the key point of the self-evaluation maintenance model that personal closeness modulates subjective sensitivity when drawing a comparison of one’s outcomes with other’s outcomes.

모바일 퍼즐 SNG 순위경쟁상황에서 플레이어의 사회비교가 경쟁심과 도전감에 미치는 영향 : 자기평가유지모형을 중심으로

소셜네트워크게임(Social Network Game, 이하 SNG)의 가장 큰 특징은 SNS의 사회관계망을 바탕으로 실제로 알고 있는 지인들과의 경쟁과 협력을 통해 게임플레이가 진행된다는 점에 있다. 그러나 기존 게임분야 연구에서 경쟁과 도전감이 게임 몰입 등에 영향을 미치는 선행요인으로써 중요하게 다루어져 왔음에도 불구하고 SNG에서 이루어지는 지인 간 순위경쟁의 특성을 고려한 깊이 있는 연구는 부족한 실정이다. 더불어 SNG에서는 지인들이 경쟁의 대상인 동시에 도전의 대상이 될 수 있다는 점을 고려하지 못하였다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 SNS의 사회관계망을 기반으로 하는 모바일 퍼즐 SNG의 지인 간 순위경쟁 특성을 사회비교이론의 자기평가유지모형 선행연구를 통해 분석하여 경쟁심과 도전감에 영향을 미치는 요인으로써 비교대상의 성취정도 (큰 순위차이, 작은 순위차이), 비교대상과의 친밀감 (강한 유대관계, 약한 유대관계)의 두 요인을 규명하고 이러한 요인 및 요인 간 상호작용이 순위경쟁상황에서 플레이어의 경쟁심과 도전감에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 실증적으로 분석하였다. 결과적으로 순위차이가 큰 경쟁대상보다 순위차이가 비교적 작은 경쟁대상을 우선적으로 노출시킬 때, 더불어 유대관계가 약한 경쟁대상보다 유대관계가 강한 경쟁대상을 우선적으로 노출시킬 때 플레이어의 경쟁심을 자극하여 도전감을 향상시킬 수 있음을 알 수 있었다. 이와 같은 연구결과는 SNG 순위표 콘텐츠 디자인의 실무에 있어 그 활용 가치가 클 것으로 기대할 수 있다.

사회비교와 자기비교의 두 과정에 관한 분석

Abstract The purposes of this study were to examine the two processes of social comparison and self-comparison, and to suggest the applications of social comparison theories and self-comparison theories. For these purposes, social comparison theory, self-evaluation maintenance model, control theory, self-discrepancy theory, regulatory focus theory, and temporal comparison theory were reviewed. The processes of social comparison and self-comparison are different, but both comparisons are similar in that they have some effects on self-evaluation, emotion, motivation and behaviors. Suggestions on education, health, economic justice and interpersonal relationships were discussed. Key Words : social comparison, self-evaluation maintenance, self comparison, control theory, self-discrepancy, regulatory focus, temporal comparison * 이 논문은 2012년도 전북대학교 연구기반 조성비 지원에 의하여 연구되었음.Received 15 February 2016, Revised 1 March 2016Accepted 20 March 2016, Published 28 March 2016Corresponding Author: Hye-Ja Kang(Dept. of Psychology, Jeonbuk National University)Email: hjkang@jbnu.ac.krⒸ The Society of Digital Policy & Management. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is ISSN: 1738-1916 properly cited.

The Effects of Pay Differential on Social Undermining and Performance via Envy

Taking the self-evaluation maintenance model (Tesser, 1988) perspective, we develop a self-based model of pay differential effects. In this model, we show how emotion, specifically envy emotion, plays a role in pay differential effects on both positive (i.e., work effort and job performance) and negative (i.e., social undermining) outcomes. We argue that a large pay differential triggers a lower paid employee to experience envy, which in turn leads to both social undermining and performance behaviors. In addition, we also posit that the indirect effect of a pay differential on social undermining is moderated by an employee’s self-esteem. Using Taiwanese employee data of 614 dyads nested within 186 members of 46 teams, we found that, through envy, a pay differential positively affects social undermining, and the mediated relationship is weakened when an employee’s self-esteem is high. The theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

Narcissism and the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model: Effects of Social Comparison Threats on Relationship Closeness

ABSTRACT When threatened with an upward social comparison with a close other in a self-relevant domain, people may reduce either the self-relevance of the ability being compared or their perceived closeness to the other person (Tesser, 1988). Those high in the trait of narcissism may be more likely to push away others who outperform them. Participants and nominated close others completed online measures of narcissism, contingent self-worth, and relationship closeness. Subsequently, participants heard that their friend performed better (or equivalently) on a “competitive spirit” test. Participants higher in narcissism significantly reduced the closeness of their relationships after a threat but did not reduce the relevance of competitiveness to their self-worth.

Application of a self-evaluation maintenance model to psychological health in interpersonal contexts

This study examines the possibility of applying Tesser's (1988) Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model, which focuses on self-esteem, to individual psychological health in interpersonal contexts. The participants consist of 243 college students divided into same-sex friendship pairs. The main findings show that when comparing oneself with an close friend in a domain one finds important, positive self-perception is more closely related to psychological health than a positive perception of the friend. In domains not important to the self, no relationship between psychological health and self-perception was found, regardless of the degree of intimacy. These results indicate that the degree of intimacy with the compared person and the degree of importance ascribed to the aspect being compared are connected with individual psychological health. These findings are discussed in relationship to application of the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model to psychological health.

“My Child Can Beat Your Child”: Toward a Measure of Parental Self-Evaluation Maintenance (PSEM)

From a self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) perspective, a parent's levels of allocentrism and collectivism were predicted to increase the parent's (a) self-protection from negative social comparison, (b) need for positive self-evaluation through “basking in reflected glory,” and (c) dependency on the child's performance to achieve (a) and (b).This study also aimed to identify messages parents communicate in order to maintain a positive self-evaluation through (a) favorable social comparison of their child's performances to the performances of a close other parent's child, and through (b) basking in reflected glory. In pursuing a test of SEM in a non-experimental context, a new set of measures of many of the components of the SEM model was developed for this study. The results reveal a reliable six-factor structure of regulative and reflective SEM strategies parents endorse in response to their child's performance. The data indicate that allocentric parents tend to engage in relationship-maintaining regulative behaviors, whereas collectivistic parents tend to engage in distancing and aggressing behaviors and no longer invest in their child in response to their child's outperformance by a close other parent's child.

Self-evaluation maintenance and relationships maintenance in close friendships : An examination from the perspective of the extended self-evaluation maintenance model

Self-evaluation maintenance and relationships maintenance in close friendships : An examination from the perspective of the extended self-evaluation maintenance model

Distinctiveness is Key: How Different Types of Self-Other Similarity Moderate Social Comparison Effects

In relevant research to date, the impact of self-other similarity on the outcome of social comparison effects is not well understood. The authors argue that the extent to which this similarity is distinctive is a key to understanding such effects. In two experiments, they demonstrate that when self-other similarity is distinctive (unique), assimilation is more likely, whereas when self-other similarity is nondistinctive (common), contrast is more likely. These results suggest that what matters is the type rather than the quantity of similarity: Similarity on one distinctive dimension more readily leads to assimilation than similarity on numerous nondistinctive dimensions. Importantly, these assimilation effects are especially likely to occur when the comparison dimension is unimportant. Contrast is more likely to occur when the comparison dimension is important. Thus, these findings both replicate and extend Tesser's (1988) Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model.

Impressions formed in response to public self-evaluation maintenance strategies

Two studies examined the impressions formed in response to public self-evaluation maintenance strategies. According to Tesser’s (1988) self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model, a person who has been outperformed by a close other perceives the field of performance as less relevant to preserve self-evaluation. Tesser and Paulhus (1983) showed that this same strategy is used for the purpose of impression management, or public self-evaluation maintenance. The present research examined the SEM model variables from the view of impression formation. In the first study, information regarding field relevance and psychological closeness was conveyed by the experimenter. In this context, field relevance had a significant impact on perception of competence. In the other study, in which the information was conveyed by the target person, relevance and closeness influenced the perception of manipulativeness and sociability. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of investigating the SEM processes from the impression formation perspective.

The role of social comparison in students’ perceptions of ability: An enriched view of academic motivation in middle school students

This study addressed notions derived from a model by Tesser, Campbell, and Smith (1984) of self-concept and how it is influenced by social relationships. We were interested in whether the self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM) would allow us to investigate more directly the value component in expectancy–value models of achievement motivation. Using distinctions often made about different motivational orientations, we discovered a three-way interaction between level of mastery orientation (high or low), relevance of math (high or low), and target of rating (self or 7th grade friend) on students’ perception of ability in math. Thus, the SEM model was supported but only for students reporting a low mastery orientation. For them, those who reported math as highly relevant estimated their own ability as significantly higher than their friend’s, whereas those reporting math as less relevant showed no difference in estimates of ability between self or friend. For high mastery oriented students, no differences were found.

The Intersection of Self-Evaluation Maintenance and Social Identity Theories: Intragroup Judgment in Interpersonal and Intergroup Contexts

In two studies, the authors explore the integration of the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model and social identity theory (SIT) by focusing on each perspective’s predictions for the evaluation of members of one’s ingroup. SEM’s predictions apply to personal identity concerns, whereas SIT’s predictions are applicable to concerns for a group identity. In Study 1, participants evaluated an ingroup member who highly outperformed them. High- and low-identified participants did not differ in their ratings of the target in an interpersonal context but high identifiers did like the target more than lows in an intergroup context. In Study 2, highly identified participants preferred a poorly performing target in an interpersonal context, but in an intergroup context, they preferred the one who outperformed them. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical overlap between SEM and SIT and how self-categorization theory can help integrate interpersonal and intergroup perspectives on self-evaluation.

The Effects of In-Group versus Out-Group Social Comparison on Self-Esteem in the Context of a Negative Stereotype

Upward comparison with members of an in-group can be both enhancing and threatening to self-esteem (Brewer & Weber, 1994). According to Tesser's (1986, 1988) self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM), the superior performance of in-group members should be threatening when comparisons are made on ability domains that are relevant to self-esteem. We argue that such comparisons will instead be enhancing if the superior other's performance challenges negative ability stereotypes about the group. In a laboratory experimental study, 60 African American female participants were given feedback on a bogus IQ test under conditions designed to increase the salience of negative stereotypes. Participants were then exposed to either upward or downward social comparison information about the performance of a White or African American female confederate. A contrast effect was observed when the confederate was White such that participants reported higher state self-esteem in the downward social comparison condition than in the upward social comparison condition. When the confederate was African American, an assimilation effect was observed such that participants reported higher state self-esteem in the upward social comparison condition than in the downward social comparison condition. These results do not appear consistent with SEM and indicate that people are at times encouraged when close others outperform them on important tasks.

Pleasure and pain in doing well, together: an investigation of performance-related affect in close relationships.

In a series of four studies, the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model is used to predict peoples' self-reported affective responses to doing better or worse than their partners. Both self-protective reactions to comparison (i.e., those predicted by the original SEM model) and empathic reactions to the partner's response (i.e., those predicted by the extended SEM model) were obtained. In addition, as predicted on the basis of both models, comparisons with romantic partners resulted in a different pattern of self-reported affect than did comparisons with strangers. Unexpectedly, it appeared that empathic effects were minimal or absent among dating partners when comparisons were in areas of high self-relevance.

Pleasure and pain in doing well, together: An investigation of performance-related affect in close relationships.

In a series of four studies, the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model is used to predict peoples' self-reported affective responses to doing better or worse than their partners. Both self-protective reactions to comparison (i.e., those predicted by the original SEM model) and empathic reactions to the partner's response (i.e., those predicted by the extended SEM model) were obtained. In addition, as predicted on the basis of both models, comparisons with romantic partners resulted in a different pattern of self-reported affect than did comparisons with strangers. Unexpectedly, it appeared that empathic effects were minimal or absent among dating partners when comparisons were in areas of high self-relevance.

The relationship between marital interaction behaviors and affective reactions to one's own and one's spouse's self-evaluation needs

A recent extension (Beach, & Tesser, 1993) of Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM: Tesser, 1988) proposed that a person's motivation to feel good about the self, and his or her concern for the partner's need to feel good about the self, can affect the couple's interaction behavior. In the present study, individual differences in the motivation to maintain one's own and one's partner's SEM needs are used to predict the couple's problem-solving discussion behaviors. Fifty-three married couples were videotaped for 20 minutes while discussing an important relationship issue on which there was disagreement. From these video records, husbands' and wives' favorable and unfavorable discussion behaviors were coded. During a subsequent session, couples reported their affective reactions to a number of SEM scenarios recalled from memory, which were used to create an individual difference measure representing the strength in motivation to maintain one's own and one's partner's self-evaluation needs. In general, husbands' and wives' responsiveness to their partners' SEM needs was associated with favorable interaction behavior, whereas responsiveness to one's own SEM needs was associated with unfavorable interaction behavior. The results of this study suggest that the extended SEM model provides an experimental framework that incorporates research directed at both the elucidation of individual differences and the examination of the couple as a unit.

Self-evaluation maintenance in marriage: Toward a performance ecology of the marital relationship.

The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model was originally developed to integrate distinct literatures on the potential positive and negative consequences for the self of being outperformed by others. Because close others are of particular importance for both of the basic processes thought to underlie the SEM model, committed heterosexual relationships provide an area in which relatively robust SEM effects should occur. In keeping with the expectation that SEM effects would be present among committed, heterosexual, married couples, the current series of studies demonstrated (a) that experimental manipulations of SEM processes influenced the behavior of married couples, (b) that patterns of couple outcomes conformed to predictions derived from the SEM model, and (c) that SEM effects accounted for inaccurate perceptions of partner needs.

Social perception: A test of the role of arousal in self‐evaluation maintenance processes

AbstractSocial prediction was used to examine the causal role of physiological arousal in self‐ evaluation maintenance (SEM) processes. Subjects' level of arousal was manipulated by having half of the subjects engage in physical exercise and half of the subjects relax prior to receiving performance feedback on high and low relevance tasks. On each task, subjects were given an opportunity to predict the performance of a friend or a stranger. The SEM modelpredicts that the more relevant the task the less charitable one's perception of another S performance, particularly a close other. Subjects in the high arousal condition showed a pattern of behaviour which was significantly closer to that predicted by the SEM model than subjects in the low arousal condition. Thus arousal appears to play a causal role in the unfolding of SEM behavrours.