The relationship between being envied and coworker exchange: The moderating roles of narcissism and the need for affiliation

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Workplace envy is a common, yet easily overlooked, phenomenon in the workplace, and it has an important impact on an organization. However, the majority of studies have focused on this topic from the perspective of the envier, and research from the perspective of the envied target is insufficient. OBJECTIVE: Building on social information processing theory, this study investigated the effects of being envied on coworker exchange and examined the influence of individual factors on this relationship. METHOD: A two-wave field survey was adopted for data collection, and 288 employees from six companies in the south of China were included. A longitudinal cross-lagged panel analysis and the Latent Moderated Structural Equations (LMS) approach were performed using Mplus 8.3. RESULTS: The findings show that being envied has a negative effect on coworker exchange and that this negative relationship is stronger when narcissism is higher or the need for affiliation is lower. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the literature on workplace envy by providing new insights and theoretical perspectives. Future research should focus on both people who envy and people who are envied, supervisor–subordinate envy, and the relationship between narcissism and being envied.