Abstract:
Literature dominantly studies the relationship of positive emotions with positive
behaviors and positive work-related outcomes and largely ignores how negative
emotions influence individual and organizational outcomes. More specifically, this
study examines how negative emotions such as employee envy influence individual
career success directly and indirectly. This study explores the complex relationships
between employee envy, employee engagement, career success, and servant
leadership. Based on affective event theory, this study examines whether employee
envy (malicious and benign) positively affects career success (career commitment and
career satisfaction) using employee engagement as a mediator and servant leadership
as a moderator. Based on the affective event theory, this study employs structural
equation modeling techniques to explore relationships between employee envy
(benign and malicious), employee engagement at work, and career success. We
further extend this study by examining the moderating effects of servant leadership on
employee envy (benign and malicious) on career success mediated by employee
engagement at work. A cross-sectional research design with a survey approach is
adapted to collect data from information technology (IT) professionals from the
software development companies. This study employs structural equation modeling
techniques to analyze the complex relationships between employee envy (benign and
malicious) and career success, where servant leadership is a moderating variable.
Results of this study show that employee engagement mediates employee envy
(benign and malicious) positively and negatively with career success (career
satisfaction and career commitment). Further, servant leadership strengthens the
relationships between employee envy (benign) and employee engagement while it
dampens the negative relationships between malicious envy and employeex
engagement. This study benefits organizations and human resources professionals in
devising policies and practices to address emerging issues of employee envy to retain
the best talent and maintain their performance at optimal levels that contribute
towards employee career success and organizational growth
