20. Impact of Envy on Job Engagement: A Study of Academic Staff Members in the Private Higher Education Sector in Sri Lanka

Employees are emotional beings. At work, however, employees are supposed to intentionally suppress their emotions, even though this is a difficult task. Negative emotions in the workplace are neglected, even though positive emotions tend to get reinforced with ease. As emotions are a factor that affect job engagement, people who are driven by enthusiasm are often involved in their work and motivated by the work itself, bringing more positive results for organisations. This study examines envy, one of the rampant negative emotions in the workplace, and its impact on job engagement. The study was conducted on a sample of 162 academic staff members working as full-time academics in private higher educational institutes in the Colombo District. Data were collected through a standard and validated questionnaire survey. The results of the study found that there is a significant impact of feeling envied by others and feeling envious of others on emotional and cognitive engagement. However, there is no impact of feeling envied by others and feeling envious of others on physical engagement. The study illustrated that feeling envied by others and feeling envious of others are negatively associated with emotional engagement, whereas feeling envied by others and feeling envious of others are positively associated with cognitive engagement. The study proposes that managing employee envy is worthwhile because it leads them to better engage themselves in their work role physically, emotionally and cognitively.