Academia's Green Eyed Monster: A Phenomenological Study on Causes and Consequences of Jealousy

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 19 - 39, 24.06.2020

Seyhan Özdemir , Ramazan Erdem

Abstract

Jealousy is defined as the strong emotion in which a person covets an object or fact owned by others, or feels a protective exclusivity over one’s own advantages or belongings (Schoeck, 1969). As Shakespeare put it, jealousy is a "green-eyed monster". Although called by different names, the feeling of jealousy can be experienced in all areas of life, periods of time and every culture. Vecchio (1995) defined workplace jealousy as the unity of thoughts, emotions and behaviors that result from seeing oneself in a lower or inadequate position, as a result of a social comparison related to work. Employee jealousy can be expressed as the pattern of emotions, thoughts and behaviors that result from loss of self-esteem and / or results divergent from those the expected to achieve. Jealousy in academic organizations is especially pertinent given that universities, theoretically, aim to undertake the task of generating, teaching and disseminating impartial and accurate information. The purpose of this exploratory phenomenon is to reveal both the causes and consequences of jealousy behavior in academic organizations.
A qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews was used in order to analyze the phenomenon of “jealousy. 23 academics from a state university in Turkey, of different titles and faculties, to ensure diversity, were selected. Participants were determined using the maximum diversity sampling method, from purposeful sampling methods. Data was collected via a semi-structured interview form, with questions including: “What is the first thing that comes to mind when jealousy is mentioned in the academic environment? Have you observed jealousy in academic settings? How does jealousy manifest itself?” The Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), described as subjective, inductive and interrogative (Smith et al., 2009), was then used to interpret the data. The face-to-face interviews were transcribed and analyzed, using the Maxqda 18 Pro Analytics program. The findings were able to shed some light on the causes and consequences of jealousy in academic organizations. Within the causes of jealousy, we can observe individual issue, such as exclusion, injustice, dislike, communication problems, loneliness / being left alone, being very popular, good social relations, comparison, contention, recognition / popularity, preference, and individual success. Organizational reasons, including academic promotion, academic incentives, lesson hours, administrative tasks, lectures, student quality, publication quality, status, envy of the work done, narrow space of study, and studying the same subject were also revealed.
At an individual level of consequences unhappiness and uneasiness are observed, where both the envious and the envied are harmed. Nine sub-themes of external consequences at this level were generated: discrimination, physical attack, blocking, intimidation, abstraction, psychosomatic, communication problem, behavior change and burnout. Regarding the consequences of organizational jealousy, four sub-themes were generated: organizational structure, organization's functioning, performance and efficiency, and stakeholder results. Finally, the consequences out of the organization are discussed under two sub-themes: reflection on society and familial problems.
Making use of the perceptions and experiences of the academics interviewed; the causes and consequences of jealousy were discussed, revealing that jealousy was common amongst academics, especially in terms of academic promotion, not wanting others to excel, fights over titles and not reaching tenure position. Those who experienced jealousy consequentially became restless and unhappy; their performance and efficiency decreased; and some even left work. In line with the findings obtained, it is recommended that administrators work to eliminate the elements that trigger jealousy and plan initiatives to prevent jealousy in academic organizations. We suggest researchers to carry out similar studies in different institutions related to this phenomenon.

Keywords

jealousy, academia, phenomenological, qualitative

Akademinin Yeşil Gözlü Canavarı: Kıskançlığın Nedenleri ve Sonuçları Üzerine Fenomenolojik Bir Çalışma

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, akademisyenlerin gözlem ve deneyimlerinden yararlanarak; akademik örgütlerde kıskançlığın nedenleri ve sonuçlarının belirlenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Bu amaçla çalışmada nitel araştırma desenlerinden fenomenoloji yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın katılımcılarını belirlemek için amaçlı örneklem yöntemlerinden biri olan maksimum çeşitlilik örnekleme tekniği kullanılmıştır. Katılımcıların görüşlerini elde etmek için yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılarak toplam 20 akademisyenle derinlemesine görüşme yapılmıştır. Görüşmeler yorumlayıcı fenomenolojik yaklaşım kullanılarak kodlanmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda, görüşülen akademisyenlerin algı ve tecrübelerinden yararlanılarak; kıskançlığın nedenleri ve sonuçları tespit edilmiştir. Akademisyenler arasında özellikle akademik terfi, başkalarının yükselmesini istememe, unvan kavgaları ve kadro alamama gibi konular çerçevesinde kıskançlığın yaygın olduğu görülmüştür. Bunun sonucu olarak, kıskanan kişilerin mutsuz ve huzursuz olduğu, bu kişilerin performans ve verimin düştüğü hatta bu kişilerin işten ayrılması gibi olumsuz sonuçlara (performans, verim düşüklüğü ve işten ayrılma) ulaşılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda, yöneticilerin kıskançlığı tetikleyici unsurları ortadan kaldırmaya yönelik çalışmalar yapması, akademik örgütlerde kıskançlığın önlenmesine yönelik girişimlerin planlanması ve bu konuyla ilişkili farklı kurumlarda benzer çalışmaların yapılması önerilmektedir.

Keywords

kıskançlık, akademik, fenomenoloji, nitel

References

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