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

Fan Yang, Zhi Liu, Hui Wang, Xu HUANG, Ning Guo

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingConference proceedingpeer-review

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.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAcademy of Management Proceedings 2022
EditorsSonia Taneja
PublisherAcademy of Management
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2022
Event82nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2022: Creating a Better World Together - Hybrid, Seattle, Washington, United States
Duration: 5 Aug 20229 Aug 2022
https://aom.org/events/annual-meeting/past-annual-meetings/2022-creating-a-better-world-together (Conference website)
https://journals.aom.org/toc/amproc/2022/1 (Conference proceedings)
https://journals.aom.org/loi/amproc/group/d2020.y2022 (Conference Proceedings)

Publication series

NameAcademy of Management Proceedings
Number1
Volume2022
ISSN (Print)0065-0668
ISSN (Electronic)2151-6561

Conference

Conference82nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle, Washington
Period5/08/229/08/22
Internet address

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