| Description |
In prior literature, jealousy has been conceptualized as a response to a threat of losing benefits in a relationship (romantic or nonromantic) with same-sex or opposite-sex partner due to a rival's interference (Bringle, 1991; Buunk, Goor, & Solano, 2010). Despite being seemingly applicable to a wide range of situations (e.g., jealousy evoked in the organizational settings), jealousy predominantly has been studied in the context of romantic relationships. This gap in the literature is unfortunate for two reasons. First, of 278 employees surveyed from approximately 200 companies, 29% reported that they have experienced jealousy over the past year (Miner, 1990), thus suggesting that this is a prevalent phenomenon. Second, feelings of jealousy have been linked to negative outcomes, such as retribution and aggression toward both the partner and the rival (Bryson, 1991), thus highlighting the need to study conditions when these negative outcomes occur. In this dissertation, I theorize about the origins and the manifestations of jealousy in the workplace. In particular, I argue that the outcome of the process, through which people compare the benefit types they and their rival provide to the partner, serves as the precursor to jealousy. I further theorize how these benefit types vary by gender and make predictions about levels of jealousy in same- and mixed-sex triads. Finally, I speculate on the gender differences in the levels and manifestations of jealousy and propose a moderator accentuating these differences. Through three studies - hypothetical scenario, laboratory, and field - I find mixed support for my hypotheses. In general, I found that jealousy is experienced more intensely to the extent that a person's rival is the same - rather than different - gender as the person. Further, in situations when the genders of the person's rival and the person are different, male rivals elicit greater jealousy than female rivals. Finally, I found that females react to jealousy more aggressively than males, especially when they were in a working relationship with an individual who was the same - rather than the opposite - gender. I conclude by discussing these findings as well as the limitations and directions for future research. |
