How comparatively high performers’ humility lessens member envy and withholding behaviors

Abstract

Comparatively high performers are valuable assets in an organization, yet one unintended consequence of working with comparatively high performers is the development of feelings of envy among team members. Although past research has considered active or harmful consequences of envy, an overlooked yet prevalent reaction to feelings of envy is to distance oneself from the comparatively high performer. Drawing from the social comparison literature, we propose a model of work-related interactions with comparatively high performers at the dyadic level. In particular, we propose a model of how a comparatively high-performing team member elicits envy in another member, and how the feeling of envy leads to two distancing behaviors: lower advice seeking and lower knowledge sharing. Further, we consider how a comparatively high performer’s expressed humility can mitigate feelings of envy in team members, thus dampening the cycle of envy before it begins. In a sample of 245 employees from 48 work groups, social relations analyses revealed that a comparatively high performer on a team elicited envy from a focal team member, and this caused the focal member to have lower levels of advice seeking from and knowledge sharing with the comparatively high-performing member. Fortunately, the comparatively high-performing member’s expressed humility mitigated feelings of envy in the focal team member, serving as one solution that can help alleviate unfavorable social comparisons.