SOCIAL COMPARISON, ENVY AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AFFECTIVE EVENT THEORY

Dr. Saba Ahmad, Dr. Adeeba Khan, and Dr. Naveed

Assistant Professor, Fatima Jinnah Woman University, Rawalpindi.

Assistant professor, The University of Poonch, Rawalakot

Associate professor, Qurtuba University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar.

Abstract

Research Background: The study tends to examine the impact of social comparison on achievement motivation of employees with special emphasis on mediating effect of envy. Data was collected from 500 employees working in different organizations of Pakistan as envy is natural phenomena and observed in every organization. The sample includes employees of fast moving consumer goods, telecommunication industries and banks of Pakistan.

Purpose of the article: The current article investigates the relationship of social comparison and achievement motivation while taking negative emotion like envy as mediator. The purpose is to explore the effects of negative emotions and events at workplace along with their consequences on employee achievement motivation. The additional goal is to apply the affective events theory (AET) as underlying framework for the current study.

Methods: The four hypotheses were developed to analyze the results. The instruments for the variables were adopted and data was collected using convenience sampling technique in which samples are selected on the basis of their easy availability to researchers.

Findings: The findings showed that social comparison has positive relationship with envy and achievement motivation. Moreover, in this study, envy mediates the relationship between social comparison and employee achievement motivation. Practical implications are also discussed in detail.

Keywords: social comparison, envy, achievement motivation, affective event theory