Harming High Performers: A Social Comparison Perspective on Interpersonal Harming in Work Teams

This study developed a multilevel model of the interpersonal harming behavior associated with social comparison processes in work teams. We tested this model using temporally lagged data from a sample of student teams (Study 1) and cross-sectional data from a sample of work teams in a telecommunicat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2011-05, Vol.96 (3), p.588-601
Main Authors: Lam, Catherine K, Van der Vegt, Gerben S, Walter, Frank, Huang, Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Comparative analysis
Conflict (Psychology)
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Cross-sectional analysis
Efficiency, Organizational
Employee Performance Appraisal
Female
Goals
Group dynamics
Group Processes
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Job performance
Male
Occupational psychology
Organizational behavior
Organizational behaviour
Organizational Objectives
Personnel Management
Social Comparison
Social relations
Studies
Team work
Teams
Telecommunications
Telecommunications industry
Work Teams
Workplace - psychology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study developed a multilevel model of the interpersonal harming behavior associated with social comparison processes in work teams. We tested this model using temporally lagged data from a sample of student teams (Study 1) and cross-sectional data from a sample of work teams in a telecommunication services company (Study 2). In both studies, social relations analyses revealed that in teams with less cooperative goals, comparison to a higher performing team member was positively associated with interpersonal harming behavior, but only when expectations of future performance similarity to that member were low. The interactive relationship of social comparison and expected future performance similarity with interpersonal harming was buffered, however, in teams with more cooperative goals.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/a0021882