Understanding How Salesperson Envy and Emotional Exhaustion Lead to Negative Consequences: The Role of Motivation

The purpose of this paper is to understand how salesperson motivations can affect negative states such as envy and emotional exhaustion in the workplace. The study uses Social Comparison Theory and Self-Determination Theory to explain how motivation influences the development of envy and emotional exhaustion, resulting in both turnover intentions and unethical selling practices. This study aims to bridge a gap in the burnout and motivation literature by focusing on envy and emotional exhaustion in the salesforce and answering calls for more research on salesperson well-being, envy, and burnout. The study uses a survey research methodology to address the effects of motivation on negative outcomes, envy, emotional exhaustion, turnover intentions, and unethical selling behaviors. Two hundred and eleven salespeople were surveyed to test the hypotheses. Established scales from prior research were adapted for use in the study and met appropriate levels of composite reliability. The model fit statistics met acceptable thresholds specified in the structural equation model literature. The study used a two-step structural equation modeling approach. First, the measurement model was validated using a CFA to test for reliability, unidimensionality, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Next, the structural model hypotheses were tested using AMOS 27. Next, the serial mediation and moderated serial mediation effects were assessed using the bootstrap method with 5000 bootstraps and a 95% confidence interval. Finally, estimands were created within AMOS 27 to test the indirect and interaction effects in the full structural model. The results show that intrinsic motivation decreases the development of envy, which positively affects emotional exhaustion, turnover intentions, and unethical selling behaviors. The findings show that intrinsic motivation in the salesforce helps to prevent unfavorable comparisons that lead to envy and emotional exhaustion. Thus, sales organizations that nurture intrinsic motivators in the workplace are more likely to prevent salespeople from seeking employment elsewhere and discourage unethical selling behaviors. Additionally, the serial mediation analysis shows that envy and burnout mediate the relationships between intrinsic motivation on both unethical selling and turnover intentions through negative, fully serially mediated relationships. These findings suggest that a sales organization can take action to prevent envy and emotional