Hot Shots and Cool Reception: Social Consequences of High Performance at Work

We examine how high performance—relative to average performance level within the group—can trigger social consequences for individuals. We contribute to the literature by investigating how peers treat fellow group members based on performance, and investigate mechanisms driving their behaviors. Analyses of multilevel, multisource data from 300 employees within 80 workgroups revealed that higher performers were viewed by peers as both more threatening and beneficial to their own access to work resources, which in turn predicted whether individual performers were socially supported or undermined by peers. We argue and test specific characteristics—both of the focal performer and of the social context—that moderate these effects. Results revealed that individual prosocial motives shielded high performers from being undermined, while more prosocial contexts did not serve as a sufficient buffer.