Seeing Green: Exploring Envy in Leader-Member Relationships

Envy emotions result from negative social comparisons with others, and leader-member exchange theory is premised on the idea that leaders maintain different quality relationships with members. Thus, distinctions in leader-member exchange quality may precipitate the onset of envy emotions for employees. To test this relationship, we incorporated a sample of 112 supervisor–subordinate dyads. Our results show that relationship performance instrumentality beliefs moderate the indirect relationship of leader–member exchange between task performance evaluations and member relational envy emotions, after controlling for demographic, dispositional, and social context features. We discuss this moderated mediation test of relationship envy antecedents, including potential ramifications for theory and practice.