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33 - Envy and Jealousy

The Role of Intrasexual Competition in the Workplace

from Part V - Discrete Emotions at Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

By
Abraham P. Buunk ,
Pieternel Dijkstra ,
Karlijn Massar ,
Rosario Zurriaga  and
Pilar González-Navarro
Edited by
Liu-Qin Yang ,
Russell Cropanzano ,
Catherine S. Daus  and
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Liu-Qin Yang
Affiliation:
Portland State University
Russell Cropanzano
Affiliation:
University of Colorado
Catherine S. Daus
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Affiliation:
Universitat de València, Spain
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Summary

Over the past decades it has become manifest that jealousy and envy may be quite prevalent within organizations (see e.g. Dogan & Vecchio, 2001; Smith, Merlone, & Duffy, 2017). Although the term “jealousy” is often used as more or less synonymous to “envy,” from a theoretical point of view jealousy and envy are evoked by different stimuli. Workplace jealousy refers to the negative thoughts and emotions that result from the interference by a coworker within a valued relationship at work, and may, for instance, be evoked when someone feels that his or her superior pays attention to a new colleague at the expense of the attention paid to him or her. In essence, workplace jealousy is triadic in that it involves three individuals: the focal employee, the rival, and the valued target person. In contrast, workplace envy is defined essentially in dyadic terms, and refers to the negative thoughts and emotions that result from the perception that a coworker has obtained outcomes or has capacities that one strongly desires (Vecchio, 2000). As noted by Sterling and Labianca (2015) “Envy is at its most basic level the pain felt at another’s good fortune” (p. 297; see also Tai, Narayanan, & McAllister, 2012). According to Parrott and Smith (1993), envy is characterized more by feelings of inferiority, longing, and resentment, whereas jealousy is characterized more by fear of loss, distrust, anxiety, and anger.

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The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect , pp. 440 - 451
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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