Abstract
Proactivity is a prominent focus in organizational research, and its benefits have been substantiated by the literature. However, previous research has overlooked the emotional and behavioral responses of supervisors toward proactive subordinates. Therefore, integrating social comparison theory with the dual envy model, this study developed a moderated mediation model to examine whether followers’ proactive personality can elicit benign and malicious envy from their leaders, subsequently leading to constructive behaviors (i.e., leaders’ knowledge sourcing) and destructive behaviors (i.e., leaders’ social undermining), respectively. Additionally, we hypothesized that ethical leadership moderates the indirect relationship mentioned above. By analyzing data collected from 395 supervisor-subordinate dyads across three waves, our findings reveal that employees’ proactive personality positively correlates with both benign envy and malicious envy from their leaders, consequently prompting leaders’ knowledge sourcing and social undermining, respectively. Furthermore, when leaders exhibit a high level of ethical leadership, the positive indirect effect of followers’ proactive personality on leaders’ knowledge sourcing through benign envy is strengthened, whereas the positive indirect effect of followers’ proactive personality on leaders’ social undermining through malicious envy becomes negative. These findings contribute to an enhanced understanding of employee proactivity for scholars and managers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
The inclusion of control variables did not yield any substantial alterations in the results of regression and (moderated) mediation analyses. Therefore, we present the findings without controls in the section of “Results”.
References
Alikaj, A., Ning, W., & Wu, B. (2021). Proactive personality and creative behavior: Examining the role of thriving at work and high-involvement HR practices. Journal of Business and Psychology, 36, 857–869. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09704-5
Aspinwall, L. G., & Taylor, S. E. (1993). Effects of social comparison direction, threat, and self-esteem on affect, self-evaluation, and expected success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(5), 708–722. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.5.708
Bateman, T. S., & Crant, J. M. (1993). The proactive component of organizational behavior: A measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030140202
Becker, T. E., Atinc, G., Breaugh, J. A., Carlson, K. D., Edwards, J. R., & Spector, P. E. (2016). Statistical control in correlational studies: 10 essential recommendations for organizational researchers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2053
Berry, C. M., Carpenter, N. C., & Barratt, C. L. (2012). Do other-reports of counterproductive work behavior provide an incremental contribution over self-reports? A meta-analytic comparison. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 613–636. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026739
Braun, S., Aydin, N., Frey, D., & Peus, C. (2018). Leader narcissism predicts malicious envy and supervisor-targeted counterproductive work behavior: Evidence from field and experimental research. Journal of Business Ethics, 151, 725–741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3224-5
Breidenthal, A. P., Liu, D., Bai, Y., & Mao, Y. (2020). The dark side of creativity: Coworker envy and ostracism as a response to employee creativity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.08.001
Brickman, P., & Bulman, R. (1977). Pleasure and pain in social comparison. In J. Suls&R. L. Miller(Eds.), Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives (pp. 149–186). New York: Hemisphere
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written materials. In H. C. Triandis & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Handbook of cross cultural psychology (pp. 389–444). Allyn & Bacon.
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Byrne, B. M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS, EQS, and LISREL: Comparative approaches to testing for the factorial validity of a measuring instrument. International Journal of Testing, 1(1), 55–86. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327574IJT0101_4
Carmeli, A., Dutton, J. E., & Hardin, A. E. (2015). Respect as an engine for new ideas: Linking respectful engagement, relational information processing and creativity among employees and teams. Human Relations, 68(6), 1021–1047. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714550256
Carnevale, J. B., Huang, L., Vincent, L. C., Yu, L., & He, W. (2023). Outshined by creative stars: A dual-pathway model of leader reactions to employees’ reputation for creativity. Journal of Management, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063231171071
Cangiano, F., Parker, S. K., & Yeo, G. B. (2019). Does daily proactivity affect well-being? The moderating role of punitive supervision. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2321
Che, T., Wu, Z., Wang, Y., & Yang, R. (2019). Impacts of knowledge sourcing on employee innovation: The moderating effect of information transparency. Journal of Knowledge Management, 23(2), 221–239. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-11-2017-0554
Chen, W. Y., Ye, M. L., Chen, Y. S., & Peng, J. (2017). Does subordinate creative deviance evoke supervisor undermining? The roles of perceived threat to hierarchy and authoritarianism. Journal of Psychological Science, 40(3), 670–677 http://www.psysci.org/CN/Y2017/V40/I3/670
DeVellis, R. F. (1991). Scale development theory and applications. Sage.
Duffy, M. K., Ganster, D. C., & Pagon, M. (2002). Social undermining in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 45(2), 331–351. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069350
Duffy, M. K., Scott, K. L., Shaw, J. D., Tepper, B. J., & Aquino, K. (2012). A social context model of envy and social undermining. Academy of Management Journal, 55(3), 643–666. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0804
Farrell, J. B., & Strauss, K. (2013). The people make the place, and they make things happen: Proactive Behavior and relationships at work. Relationships in organizations: A work psychology perspective (pp. 107–136). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Frese, M., & Fay, D. (2001). 4. Personal initiative: An active performance concept for work in the 21st century. Research in Organizational Behavior, 23, 133–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(01)23005-6
Fuller, B., & Marler, L. E. (2009). Change driven by nature: A meta-analytic review of the proactive personality literature. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.05.008
Fuller, B., Marler, L. E., Hester, K., & Otondo, R. F. (2015). Leader reactions to follower proactive behavior: Giving credit when credit is due. Human Relations, 68(6), 879–898. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714548235
Gray, P. H., & Meister, D. B. (2004). Knowledge sourcing effectiveness. Management Science, 50(6), 821–834. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1030.0192
Lam, C. K., Van der Vegt, G. S., Walter, F., & Huang, X. (2011). Harming high performers: A social comparison perspective on interpersonal harming in work teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 588–601. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021882
Lange, J., & Crusius, J. (2015). Dispositional envy revisited: Unraveling the motivational dynamics of benign and malicious envy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 284–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616721456495
Lange, J., Weidman, A. C., & Crusius, J. (2018). The painful duality of envy: Evidence for an integrative theory and a meta-analysis on the relation of envy and schadenfreude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(4), 572–598. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000118
Lee, K., & Duffy, M. K. (2019). A functional model of workplace envy and job performance: When do employees capitalize on envy by learning from envied targets? Academy of Management Journal, 62(4), 1085–1110. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.1202
Leheta, D., Dimotakis, N., & Schatten, J. (2017). The view over one's shoulder: The causes and consequences of leader's envy of followers. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(3), 451–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.12.002
Li, W. D., Li, S., Fay, D., & Frese, M. (2019). Reciprocal relationships between dispositional optimism and work experiences: A five-wave longitudinal investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 1471–1486. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000417
Matta, F. K., & Van Dyne, L. (2020). Understanding the disparate behavioral consequences of LMX differentiation: The role of social comparison emotions. Academy of Management Review, 45(1), 154–180. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2016.0264
Mussweiler, T., Rüter, K., & Epstude, K. (2004). The ups and downs of social comparison: Mechanisms of assimilation and contrast. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(6), 832–844. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.87.6.832
Pan, J., Zheng, X., Xu, H., Li, J., & Lam, C. K. (2021). What if my coworker builds a better LMX? The roles of envy and coworker pride for the relationships of LMX social comparison with learning and undermining. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(9), 1144–1167. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2549
Parker, S. K., & Liao, J. (2016). Wise proactivity: How to be proactive and wise in building your career. Organizational Dynamics, 45(3), 217–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2016.07.007
Parker, S. K., Wang, Y., & Liao, J. (2019). When is proactivity wise? A review of factors that influence the individual outcomes of proactive behavior. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 221–248. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015302
Perry-Smith, J. E., & Shalley, C. E. (2003). The social side of creativity: A static and dynamic social network perspective. Academy of Management Review, 28(1), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2003.8925236
Reh, S., Tröster, C., & van Quaquebeke, N. (2018). Keeping (future) rivals down: Temporal social comparison predicts coworker social undermining via future status threat and envy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(4), 399–415. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000281
Seibert, S., Crant, J., & Kraimer, M. (1999). Proactive personality and career success. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(3), 416–427. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.84.3.416
Smith, R. H. (2000). Assimilative and contrastive emotional reactions to upward and downward social comparisons. In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research (pp. 173–200). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_10
Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (2007). Comprehending envy. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 46–64. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.46
Stogdill, R. M. (1950). Leadership, membership and organization. Psychological Bulletin, 47(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0053857
Sun, J., Li, W. D., Li, Y., Liden, R. C., Li, S., & Zhang, X. (2021). Unintended consequences of being proactive? Linking proactive personality to coworker envy, helping, and undermining, and the moderating role of prosocial motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(2), 250–267. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000494
Sun, S., & van Emmerik, H. I. (2015). Are proactive personalities always beneficial? Political skill as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 966–975. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037833
Taylor, P. J., Li, W. D., Shi, K., & Borman, W. C. (2008). The transportability of job information across countries. Personnel Psychology, 61, 69–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2008.00106.x
Treviño, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P. (2003). A qualitative investigation of perceived executive ethical leadership: Perceptions from inside and outside the executive suite. Human Relations, 56(1), 5–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872670305600144
Urbach, T., Den Hartog, D. N., Fay, D., Parker, S. K., & Strauss, K. (2021). Cultural variations in whether, why, how, and at what cost people are proactive: A followership perspective. Organizational Psychology Review, 11(1), 3–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386620960526
Van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2009). Leveling up and down: The experiences of benign and malicious envy. Emotion, 9(3), 419–429. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015669
Wang, N., Yin, J., Ma, Z., & Liao, M. (2022). The influence mechanism of rewards on knowledge sharing behaviors in virtual communities. Journal of Knowledge Management, 26(3), 485–505. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-07-2020-0530
Weiss, M., & Morrison, E. W. (2019). Speaking up and moving up: How voice can enhance employees' social status. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(1), 5–19. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2262
Wood, J. V. (1996). What is social comparison and how should we study it? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(5), 520–537. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167296225009
Yu, L., & Duffy, M. K. (2016). A social-contextual view of envy in organizations: From both enviers and envied perspectives. In R. H. Smith, U. Merlone, & M. K. Duffy (Eds.), Envy at work and in organizations. Oxford University Press.
Yu, L., Duffy, M. K., & Tepper, B. J. (2018). Consequences of downward envy: A model of self-esteem threat, abusive supervision, and supervisory leader self-improvement. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), 2296–2318. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0183
Yukl, G. A. (2012). Leadership in organizations. Pearson.
Zacher, H., Schmitt, A., Jimmieson, N. L., & Rudolph, C. W. (2019). Dynamic effects of personal initiative on engagement and exhaustion: The role of mood, autonomy, and support. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(1), 38–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2277
Zhang, R., Li, A., & Gong, Y. (2021a). Too much of a good thing: Examining the curvilinear relationship between team-level proactive personality and team performance. Personnel Psychology, 74(2), 295–321. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12413
Zhang, M. J., Law, K. S., & Wang, L. (2021b). The risks and benefits of initiating change at work: Social consequences for proactive employees who take charge. Personnel Psychology, 74(4), 721–750. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12423
Funding
This work was funded by the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71902057) and the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (18YJC630090).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ye Lin has developed the research model, analyzed the data, and co-drafted the manuscript. Rong Bu has helped to analyze the data and co-drafted the manuscript. Shuping Qiu has helped to collect and analyze the data. Zhiwen Guo has critically reviewed the manuscript. Jun Liu has provided suggestions for the research model and helped to collect the data. All the authors gave final approval of the version to be published. All the authors have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted. All the authors agree to be accountable for all contents of the work.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Hubei University’s Ethics Committee. The procedures used in this study adhere to the guidelines of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Lin, Y., Bu, R., Qiu, S. et al. The reactions of supervisor to subordinate proactive personality: A study from the perspective of supervisor dual envy. Curr Psychol 43, 15883–15897 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05452-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05452-w