Leader–Member Exchange and Job Performance: The Dual Mediating Role of Benign and Malicious Envy
Abstract
The study was carried out in the educational sector with the major cities of Punjab in Pakistan being the target markets. The main aim was to consider the mediating role of malicious envy (ME) and benign envy (BE) in the association between the leader-member exchange (LMX) and job performance (JP). This paper is based on LMX theory and draws attention to the role of the nature of the relations between subordinates and their leaders on employee attitudes and final performance results. The survey was conducted using a structured survey to gather data among middle-tier staff and faculty members. In the total amount of 400 distributed questionnaires, 243 questionnaires were found valid and utilized in the analysis. To analyze the data, SMART-PLS was used, which allowed assessing direct and mediated effects. The results showed that there is a positive correlation between LMX and job performance. In addition, malicious envy and benign envy were both found to mediate this relation meaning that envy is a two-force process in the organization. It was found that malicious envy was detrimental to performance, and benign envy may act as a motivational factor leading to the improvement of performance. On the basis of these results, the research suggests that the top management in universities and other organisations with similar environments should take steps to ensure that the negative impact of malicious envy is reduced and the potential of benign envy is exploited. The process of enhancing the quality of leader-member exchanges can also be an important tactic to facilitate good organizational behavior and overall performance.
Keywords: Leader-Member-Exchange, Malicious Envy, Benign Envy, Job Performance
