Modeling Envy and Bullying at Work

Abstract

Envy and bullying are the two most common types of workplace violence. They happen when a perpetrator sabotages a target's productivity on purpose and inflicts physical or mental suffering on the target. Despite their potential to undermine the sustainability of the organization, envy and bullying are widely practiced. Given that legislation has been marginally successful in eradicating these aggressive behaviors from the workplace, we conjecture that there are economic reasons for their persistence. By modeling the dyadic relationship between a perpetrator and a target, we demonstrate that envy and bullying may be inherent in any organization that maximizes its output while retaining a level of stability, should its employees have heterogeneous levels of productivity. We find that there is an optimal level of violence that can steer the workplace towards an equilibrium. Based on this finding, we provide some suggestions that may help improve general working conditions.