You Have Received More Help than I Did and I Envy You: A Social Comparison Perspective on Receiving Help in the Team

Abstract

In the current research, we developed and tested a model of how and when upward social comparison of received help influenced an employee’s interpersonal citizenship behavior. Based on social comparison theory, we posited that upward social comparison of received help triggered an employee’s feelings of envy, which in turn had a negative relationship with interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB). Further, we argued that the effects of upward social comparison of received help on envy differed in the employee’s social comparison orientation. Using data collected in three waves from 411 employees in China, we found that upward social comparison of received help was positively associated with the employee’s feelings of envy while controlling for overall receiving help, which further negatively affected interpersonal citizenship behavior. Moreover, the relationship between the upward social comparison of received help and the employee’s feelings of envy was stronger when employees had high levels of social comparison orientation and further strengthened the indirect relationship between the upward social comparison of received help and the employee’s ICB via envy. Overall, these findings have the potential to extend our knowledge of the adverse effects of receiving help in a team by introducing a social comparison perspective.