The Relationship Between The Social Comparison Of Leader-member Exchange And The Cooperative Behavior Of Employees: From The Perspective Of The Benign And Malicious Attributes Of Envy

Leader-member exchange social comparison(LMXSC)refers to the subjective perception that employees compare their own leader-member exchange quality with the exchange quality of colleagues.As the latest research extension of the leadermember exchange(LMX)theory,it has gradually been paid attention to by more and more researchers.Most previous studies have found that the unfavorable results of the upward social comparison trigger negative employee behaviors,such as socially destructive behaviors and organizational rejection behaviors.However,this study examines the differential effects of LMXSC on employees’ cooperative behavior through benign envy and malicious envy and the moderating role played by narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry,starting from the benign and malicious attributes of envy,hoping to reveal the possible potential positive effects of LMXSC.Study 1 used a questionnaire(n = 210)to initially explore the correlation between LMXSC and cooperative behavior,the mediating role of benign envy and malicious envy,and the moderating role of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry between LMXSC and the two types of envy.Since the related studies could not draw exact causal conclusions,Study 2 used an experimental method(n = 198)to manipulate LMXSC(low LMXSC vs.parallel LMXSC)to verify again the causal relationship between LMXSC and cooperative behavior,the mediating role of benign envy and malicious envy,and the moderating role of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry.The results showed that(1)LMXSC negatively predicted benign envy and malicious envy,and the lower the LMXSC of individuals,the more benign envy and malicious envy they produced;(2)Benign envy positively predicted cooperative behavior;malicious envy negatively predicted cooperative behavior.(3)Benign envy and malicious envy play a mediating role in the effect of LMXSC on cooperative behavior: LMXSC negatively affects cooperative behavior through benign envy;LMXSC positively affects cooperative behavior through malicious envy.(4)Narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry play a moderating role in the effect of LMXSC on envy: for individuals with higher levels of narcissistic admiration,they are more likely to have benign envy when they have lower LMXSC;for individuals with higher levels of narcissistic rivalry,they are more likely to have malicious envy when they have lower LMXSC.(5)Narcissism plays a moderating role in the indirect effect of LMXSC influencing cooperative behavior through envy: compared with individuals with low degree of narcissistic admiration,the indirect effect of LMXSC promoting of cooperative behavior through benign envy is more significant for individuals with high degree of narcissistic admiration;Compared with individuals with low level of narcissistic competition,the indirect effect of LMXSC reducing cooperative behavior through malicious envy is more significant for individuals with high level of narcissistic competition.This study extends the research on LMXSC and envy affecting individual cooperative behavior,which helps people to understand LMXSC and envy comprehensively and scientifically,and also provides some insights for organizational managers to correctly and effectively guide the behavior of their subordinates and improve the organizational cooperative atmosphere.