Investigating leader-member exchange and employee envy: An evidence from the information technology industry

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates the dynamics of supervisor-subordinate relationship, commonly referred in leadership literature as leader-member exchange (LMX), in the context of envy, and its associated consequences. Building on the affective events theory, we hypothesize that employees who do not share a good relationship with their supervisors (low-quality LMX) will be envious of the peers that maintain great relationship (high-quality LMX) with the supervisor. As a result, they will restrict knowledge sharing, and engage in uncivil behaviors. Hierarchical regression was used to test hypotheses on data derived from a sample of 204 software engineers working across various information technology firms in India. The study found support for all of the proposed hypotheses and extends research in the field by demonstrating negative consequences of envy in the workplace.