Jealousy and envy in the workplace: a review of the last 20 years

Abstract

There is no doubt that organizations may be affected by the emotional responses of its members, and how these responses are handled decisively influence on job performance. Two of the emotions that have a direct bearing on performance are jealousy and envy. This paper aims to conduct a literature review of the last 20 years about jealousy and envy in the workplace. After an exhaustive search of 41 relevant articles, we proceeded to explore the main definitions given, the measurement methods used for evaluation and the antecedent and consequent variables which have related these two emotions. Finally, the limitations of these studies and proposals for the future of this research are presented. The results suggest that future research should focus on the study of moderator variables between jealousy and envy, while taking into account the use of qualitative methodology and longitudinal studies.