Explorations in employee envy: Feeling envious and feeling envied

Two aspects of envy at work (i.e., feeling envied by others and feeling envy toward others) were studied with 222 first-level supervisors. Results supported predictions concerning the previously unstudied construct of feeling envied by others (i.e., associations were identified with job longevity, Machiavellianism, and sense of competitive reward), as well as replicated earlier findings for feeling envy toward others (i.e., associations were identified with self-esteem, Machiavellianism, leader-member exchange, sense of competitive reward, and job dissatisfaction). Also, employee Machiavellianism and leader-member exchange were found to interact for the dependent variable of being the target of coworker envy such that in-group members who were highly Machiavellian reported the greatest sense of being envied by coworkers.