Are your gains threat or chance for me? A social comparison perspective on idiosyncratic deals and coworkers’ acceptance

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2024

Keywords

Acceptance, coworkers, idiosyncratic deals, obtaining future i-deals, status threat

Abstract

Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) refer to customized work arrangements and employment conditions employees negotiate with employers. Significant scholarly attention has been paid to understand the responses of i-deals’ recipients. However, little attention has been paid to coworkers’ reactions to the i-deals. This study examines how coworkers react to focal employees’ i-deals. We tested our hypotheses with a sample of 253 employee–coworker pairs and found that coworkers are more likely to accept focal employees’ flexibility i-deals than development i-deals. Specifically, we found that coworkers view focal employees’ development i-deals as more threatening to their status than flexibility i-deals, and status threat mediates the relationship between development i-deals and coworkers’ acceptance. In addition, flexibility i-deals increase coworkers’ perception of obtaining future i-deals more than development i-deals, and this perception mediates the relationship between flexibility i-deals and coworkers’ acceptance. Furthermore, the results show that coworkers’ relative leader–member exchange moderates the above relationships.

Publication Title

Journal of Management and Organization

ISSN

18333672

Volume

30

Issue

4

First Page

840

Last Page

861

DOI

10.1017/jmo.2020.32

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