Impact of psychological entitlement on engagement in learning activities and psychological anxiety: the mediating role of envy

Abstract

Psychological entitlement has appeared as a significant topic for research in the field of management and Psychology. From the perspective of social comparison theory, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of psychological entitlement on engagement in learning activities and psychological anxiety in the hotel industry. Furthermore, benign and malign envy were examined as an explanatory mechanism between psychological entitlement and its outcomes. Based on a three-wave time-lagged design, data were obtained from 242 employees working in the different hotels in Pakistan. We found that psychological entitlement’s has no direct influence on hotel employees engagement in learning activities, and psychological anxiety. In addition, the indirect effect of psychological entitlement on both outcomes (engagement in learning activities and psychological anxiety) was found significant through the mediating effect of benign and malign envy. The implications for research theory and practice are discussed.