Employees may compare their qualifications with colleagues to determine suitability for the same position. Drawing on the perspective of social comparison emotions, this study explores examines how employees’ perceived relative qualifications (PRQ) and perceived deservingness trigger distinct emotions and behaviors. We tested the proposed model utilizing one experiment and one field study using a round-robin design to collect 452 dyadic responses. Results showed that when employees have lower PRQ than a specific colleague, they experience benign envy and seek advice if the outcome is perceived as deserved, or increase malicious envy and social undermining if perceived as undeserved. In contrast, when employees have higher PRQ than a specific colleague, they experience schadenfreude when the outcome is deserved, or increase sympathy and proactive helping when the outcome is undeserved. This research highlights the impact of PRQ comparison and perceived deservingness on workplace behavior.
