Workplace Interpersonal Capitalization: Employee Reactions to Coworker Positive Event Disclosures

Abstract

“Capitalization”—the process of sharing a personal positive event with others—provides disclosers with many advantages such as increased self-esteem, relationship quality, and relationship trust. Existing theory on capitalization has been developed within the context of close relationships where individuals typically maintain aligned outcomes. However, when outcomes are opposed such as when individuals are competing, capitalization may not be an effective relationship behavior as currently conceptualized. In this work, I examine the consequences of capitalization within the workplace, a context that is characteristically competitive. I build a model of workplace interpersonal capitalization, defined as the process of sharing personal work-related positive events with coworkers. Drawing from social comparison theory, I posit that hearing a coworker disclose work-related positive events causes an employee to experience either inspiration or envy as a function of the degree to which the disclosing coworker is viewed as a competitor. Furthermore, I explain how these inspirational and envious reactions motivate interpersonal citizenship behavior and social undermining, respectively. Overall, I establish distinct responder-based reactions and postulate competition as a key boundary condition that alters the effects of capitalization.

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