The Pernicious Effects of Malicious versus Benign Envy: Perceived Injustice, Emotional Hostility and Counterproductive Behaviors in the Workplace

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ginés Navarro-Carrillo ◽  
Ana M. Beltrán-Morillas ◽  
Inmaculada Valor-Segura ◽  
Francisca Expósito

AbstractDespite the fact that literature regarding the implications of envy in the work environment has generated growing interest in recent years, the role of malicious and benign envy in the workplace has scarcely been studied. Therefore, the present study, using an experimental design, N = 213 (140 female and 73 male; Mage = 31.05, SD = 10.01; range from 18 to 68), aims to examine the effects of malicious (vs. benign) envy on perceived injustice, negative emotions, and the individual tendency to express counterproductive work behaviors. The results obtained showed that the mere activation of malicious envy (vs. benign envy) leads to an increased perceived injustice (p < .001, ηp2= .15), and to higher levels of negative emotions (p < .001, ηp2= .18) and counterproductive (harmful) behaviors toward the envied co-worker (p < .001, ηp2= .16). Additionally, we found that perceptions of injustice and negative emotions mediated the effect of malicious (vs. benign) envy on the inclination to express counterproductive work behaviors (Indirect Effect (IE) = .227, SE = .064, 95% CI [.127, .386]. Finally, these findings and their possible implications are discussed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Savitha ◽  
K.B. Akhilesh

Counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) are the deviant behaviors ofemployees that violate the organisational norms, and in turn harm theorganisation or its members. Misuse of time and resources (MTR), a form ofCWB is of increasing concern to business organisations world-wide. Suchbehaviors are mainly aimed at the organisations than the individuals,restricting productive time on the job and inappropriate or unauthorized use oforganisational resources. Extant literature informs that these behaviors arecaused by stressful work conditions mediated by negative emotions. However,the extant literature does not adequately consider multiple discrete emotions tostudy CWB. This study examines the influence of discrete negative emotions onmisuse of time and resources in the context of manufacturing and IT firms inIndia. It contributes to theory by linking individual emotions to the deviantbehaviors relevant to misuse of time and resources. Finally, the managerialimplications derived from the study helps to understand employees’ emotionalstates and their possible consequences.KeywordsMisuse of time and resources; Counterproductive work behavior; Time theft;Time banditry; Withdrawal


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingge Zhu ◽  
Denghao Zhang

This study aims to explore the mediating effect of anger and turnover intention on the relationship between workplace ostracism and counterproductive work behaviors. A two-stage follow-up survey of 426 employees born after 1990 was conducted using the Workplace Ostracism Scale, Counterproductive Work Behaviors Scale, Trait Anger subscale of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, and Turnover Intention Scale. Workplace ostracism was found to be significantly positively correlated with anger, turnover intention, and counterproductive work behaviors. Furthermore, anger and turnover intention both separately and serially mediated the relationship between workplace ostracism and counterproductive work behaviors. This study confirms the chain mediating effect of anger and turnover intention on the relationship between workplace ostracism and counterproductive work behaviors.


Author(s):  
Naman Sharma

Unethical employee behaviors pose a grave challenge for organizations today. Research has established that every year organizations lose millions of their dollars along with their valuable reputation due to immoral conduct of their employees. Practitioners and researchers in the past have undertook such instances very seriously and analyzed various antecedents to these employee behaviors. While various personality and attitude related variables have been held responsible for counterproductive work behaviors, the role of social learning was often overlooked in this pursuit. Current chapter address this gap and presents a logical framework for establishing social learning as potential antecedent of employee deviance in organizations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1341-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne Le Roy ◽  
Marina Bastounis ◽  
Jale Minibas -Poussard

Perceptions of interactional justice have been shown to explain why employees engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWB; Bies, 2005). However, the processes involved in this relationship have yet to be clarified. In this study, we drew on the cognitive theory of emotions and extended work published on the mediating role in this relationship (Fox & Spector, 1999) by conducting a survey with insurance company employees (N = 187). Data analyses confirmed that CWB are significantly predicted by both low perceived interactional justice and negative emotions. In addition, 2 significant mediation effects were observed: (a) perceived anger mediates the relationship between low perceived interpersonal justice and active CWB, and (b) perceived fear mediates the relationship between low perceived informational justice and passive CWB. The theoretical and organizational implications of these findings are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1802-1829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie J. Barclay ◽  
Tina Kiefer

After decades of domination by social exchange theory and its focus on a manager-centered perspective, fairness scholars have recently issued numerous calls to shift attention toward understanding employees’ subjective “lived-through” experiences and in situ responses to unfair events. Using appraisal theories, we argue that focusing on the employee’s perspective highlights the importance of emotions in fairness experiences. Further, this emphasis creates opportunities for novel insights regarding the emotions that are likely to be relevant, the constructive responses that can emerge from unfairness, and the interplay between unfair events and entity fairness judgments. Using a daily diary study with event sampling, we highlight the importance of anger and anxiety in understanding how individuals experience and react to unfair events. Results indicated that anger elicited counterproductive work behaviors, whereas anxiety initiated problem prevention behaviors (i.e., a subdimension of proactive work behavior). Further, by engaging in problem prevention behaviors, employees can positively influence their subsequent overall fairness judgments. Experiences of an unfair event can also be shaped by individuals’ preexisting overall fairness judgments, such that preexisting overall fairness judgments are negatively associated with anger but positively associated with anxiety. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, including the influential role of emotions for fairness experiences, how employees’ own behaviors can influence subsequent overall fairness judgments, the interplay between unfair events and entity judgments, and ensuring that fairness is effectively managed on a daily basis.


Author(s):  
Fatima Bashir ◽  
Saima Naseer

Introduction.- Hostile organization climates can pave way for hostile, aggressive behavior and attitude which later become norm of the workplace. The hostile climate in an organization can ensure a damaging impact on employee behavior and mental health. Objectives.- Using Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS) this study aims to investigate the activation of paranoid cognitions due to stress stimuli coming from explore hostile climate and its impact on the sleep quality of employees which further lead to negative employee outcomes like counterproductive work behaviors, and psychological well-being with the moderating role of emotional suppression. Method and Results.-A time-lagged data segregated at three-time intervals are collected from employees and peers (n=497) working in the Telecom sector of Pakistan. Our study utilized PROCESS in SPSS technique to prove serial mediation of paranoid cognition and sleep quality between hostile climate, counterproductive work behavior, and psychological well-being and moderation analysis. Conclusion.- This study discovers new avenues in the existing literature of CATS and hostile climate by examining paranoid cognition and sleep quality as the underlying mechanisms through which hostile organizational climate can defoliate psychological well-being and can cause harm to an organization through counterproductive work behaviors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-188
Author(s):  
Muhammad Haris Khan ◽  
Ayesha Noor

The purpose of this research was to investigate the outcomes of envy in the workplace and the moderating role of perceived organizational support. Data was collected from 270 employees of the telecom industry. The cross-sectional research was conducted, and the data was collected through survey questionnaires from employees hailing from private Telecom companies in Pakistan. Results showed that upward social comparison initiates benign and malicious envy which, in turn, affects employee performance. Benign envy results in enhancing the employee performance whereas malicious envy shows no relationship with employee performance. By paying attention to supporting the employees, malicious envy can enhance employee performance.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa El Zein ◽  
Bahador Bahrami

It has recently been proposed that a key motivation for joining group decisions is to be protected from negative consequences of these decisions. To test this claim we investigated how experienced outcomes that trigger loss and regret impacted people’s tendency to make decisions alone or in a group, and how these decisions differed when voluntarily made alone vs in group. Replicated across two experiments, participants (N=125 and N=451) first selected whether to play alone or in a group with majority rule. Next, they chose between two lotteries with different probabilities and magnitudes of winning and losing. Experienced outcomes affected participants’ propensity to join a group: the higher the negative outcome, the more participants switched from deciding alone to with others. When choosing the lottery collectively (vs alone), choices were less driven by anticipation of loss and regret. Moreover, negative outcomes led to worse subsequent choices but only when outcome was experienced alone. Together, these results confirm the protective role of group decisions against blame and responsibility and reveal an alarming consequence of group decisions: when collective choice leads to unpalatable outcomes, the protective shield of the collective reduces the influence of negative emotions that could have helped individuals re-evaluate their past choice and possibly avoid repeating their mistakes.


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