Yu Zhen, Wang Feiwen, Ye Long, Liao Ganli, Zhang Qichao
School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China.
Business School, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jul 23;15(8):1001. doi: 10.3390/bs15081001.
In today's rapidly evolving organizations, talent management plays a critical role in driving sustainable growth. Talents, particularly those exhibiting leadership potential, are often seen as essential assets for organizational development. However, the presence of high employee's leadership potential can also generate adverse emotional reactions from leaders, potentially leading to behaviors such as leader jealousy and leader ostracism. This study investigates the dark side of employee's leadership potential by examining the mechanisms through which employee's leadership potential influences leader ostracism, with leader jealousy acting as a mediator. Drawing on social comparison theory, we propose a theoretical model that includes organizational competitive climate and leader's core self-evaluation as moderating factors. Using a three-wave survey of 672 leaders in the Chinese construction industry, hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses. The results show that employee's leadership potential significantly increases both leader jealousy and leader ostracism, with leader jealousy serving as a mediator. Moreover, a high organizational competitive climate strengthens the relationship between employee's leadership potential and leader jealousy, thereby enhancing the entire mediated effect. In contrast, high leader core self-evaluation weakens the relationship between employee's leadership potential and leader jealousy, reducing the likelihood of leader ostracism and attenuating the mediated effect. This study provides both theoretical contributions and practical insights for organizations seeking to manage high-leadership potential employees while minimizing the risk of negative leadership behaviors.
在当今快速发展的组织中，人才管理在推动可持续增长方面发挥着关键作用。人才，尤其是那些展现出领导潜力的人才，通常被视为组织发展的重要资产。然而，员工较高的领导潜力也可能引发领导者的负面情绪反应，进而可能导致诸如领导者嫉妒和领导者排斥等行为。本研究通过考察员工领导潜力影响领导者排斥的机制来探究员工领导潜力的阴暗面，其中领导者嫉妒起到中介作用。借鉴社会比较理论，我们提出一个理论模型，该模型将组织竞争氛围和领导者的核心自我评价作为调节因素。通过对中国建筑业672位领导者进行的三阶段调查，采用分层回归分析来检验假设。结果表明，员工的领导潜力显著增加了领导者嫉妒和领导者排斥，领导者嫉妒起到中介作用。此外，高组织竞争氛围强化了员工领导潜力与领导者嫉妒之间的关系，从而增强了整个中介效应。相反，高领导者核心自我评价削弱了员工领导潜力与领导者嫉妒之间的关系，降低了领导者排斥的可能性并减弱了中介效应。本研究为那些试图管理具有高领导潜力的员工同时将负面领导行为风险降至最低的组织提供了理论贡献和实践启示。
