An interpersonal perspective to study workplace favoritism and employees’ motivation to hold multiple jobs
| Date | 24 December 2024 |
| Pages | 389-406 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-06-2024-0601 |
| Published date | 24 December 2024 |
| Author | Sovanjeet Mishra,Anupriya Singh,Shalini Srivastava |
An interpersonal perspective to study
workplace favoritism and employees’
motivation to hold multiple jobs
Sovanjeet Mishra
Department of OB/HR, Jaipuria Institute of Management – Noida Campus,
Noida, India
Anupriya Singh
Faculty of Education and Professional Studies, School of Business,
Nipissing University, North Bay, Canada and
Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi, India, and
Shalini Srivastava
Department of OB/HR, Jaipuria Institute of Management – Noida Campus,
Noida, India
Abstract
Purpose –The reasons for employees’ multiple jobholding have often been explored from economic and
aspirational standpoints, and the role of workplace conditions that may encourage employees’ multiple
jobholding remains largely overlooked. Weexamine the linkage between workplace favoritism and employees’
multiple jobholding motivations. Utilizing the conservation of resources as our theoretical framework, we also
explored the underlying role of job insecurity and psychological contract violation.
Design/methodology/approach –We collected data using qualitative and quantitative methods. To gauge
multiple jobholding motivations, we collected data from employees in Indian organizations using both
qualitative (N544) and quantitative (N5180, N5205, N5251) methods. A mediation model was tested
using two-wave data gathered from 251 employees working with varied organizations located in North India.
Variance-basedSmartPLS was used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings –A positive and significant association was found between workplace favoritism and employees’
multiple jobholding motivations. Job insecurity and psychological contract violation emerged as significant
mediators in this process.
Originality/value –Through qualitative and quantitative studies, we developed and tested a measure of employees’
motivations to hold multiple jobs. The study uncovers the role of adverse workplace conditions in encouraging
these motivations and sheds light on how workplace favoritism translates into employees’ holding multiple jobs.
Keywords Workplace favoritism, Multiple jobholding motivations, Job insecurity,
Psychological contract violation, Conservation of resources theory
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Multiple jobholding, the practice of working another job(s) in addition to one’s primary
occupation, is ubiquitously prevalent both in developed and developing economies (Ara and
Akbar, 2016;Sahu and Dutta, 2023;Seema et al., 2021). Most researchers have explored the
economic reasons that encourage multiple jobholding such as decreased real earnings,
business cycle changes, employment insecurity, and precautionary saving (Nunoo et al.,
2018), some have examined gender differences in multiple jobholding (Amuedo-Dorantes and
Kimmel, 2009) and others have attempted to study its prevalence in certain professions such as
teaching, medical practice, information technology, and legislature (Ara and Akbar, 2016;
Hurka et al., 2018;Seema et al., 2021). Employers often condemn employees’ multiple
jobholding as it impairs their performance, motivations, productivity, and commitment, and
also results in data and confidentiality violations (Akbaba and Melih Aydın,2023;Rispel et al.,
2014;Sahu and Dutta, 2023;Singh et al., 2023).
Personnel Review
389
Sovanjeet Mishra acknowledges the funding received by Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0048-3486.htm
Received 22 June 2024
Revised 18 October 2024
Accepted 19 November 2024
PersonnelReview
Vol.54 No. 1, 2025
pp.389-406
©Emerald Publishing Limited
e-ISSN:1758-6933
p-ISSN:0048-3486
DOI10.1108/PR-06-2024-0601
Highlighting that employees primarily engage in multiple jobholding to seek financial gains,
few researchers have stated that work-life balance practices of organizations provide enough time
for side hustle (Seema et al., 2021;Singh et al., 2023). The hybrid work environment brought
about owing to Covid-19 pandemic has also been ascribed as a reason for multiple jobholding
(Akbaba and Melih Aydın, 2023;Sahu and Dutta, 2023). Researchers have also noted that
employees often aspire to gain new skills or start entrepreneurial ventures using their primary jobs
as a safety net (Akbaba and Melih Aydın, 2023). Withmost focus on employees’ financial needs
and aspirations, or employee-friendly work practices, the role of adverse workplace conditions
that may drive employees towards multiple jobholding remains largely overlooked. Since
workplace conditions have a crucial role in influencing employees’ engagement, psychological
fulfillment, affective commitment, and well-being (Shamsudin et al., 2023;Lim et al., 2023), it is
construed that adverse conditions might trigger employees to question their employment stability
and explore options for holding additional job(s). Empirical evidence on antecedents of multiple
jobholding motivations, too, seems to be somewhat limited and narrowly focused on employee-
level constructs such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Seema et al., 2021) and
organization-based self-esteem (Akbaba and Melih Aydın,2023). While multiple jobholding is a
significant topic for researchers and policymakers, little holistic research has been undertaken,
and there is a need to advance our understanding of this phenomenon (Bamberry and Campbell,
2012). Debate on whether multiple jobholding is ethical, if it is a “plight or a pleasure”, and how
organizations must balance their and employees’ interests are ongoing (Bamberry and Campbell,
2012;Sahu and Dutta, 2023;Singh et al., 2023). Furthering the debate, we also need to throw light
on adverse workplace conditions that encourage multiple jobholding by influencing employees’
perceptions regarding job insecurity and psychological contract violation.
Employing the conservation of resources theory (COR) (Hobfoll, 1989), we intend to
explore the role of an adverse workplace condition - workplace favoritism in influencing
employees’ multiple jobholding motivations. In this process, we also explore the mediating
role of two factors that could embody employee-level perceptions regarding employment
stability, i.e. job insecurity and psychological contract violation. COR purports that “people
strive to retain, protect, and build resources and that what threatens them is the potential or
actual loss of these valued resources” (Hobfoll, 1989, p. 513). COR theorists have also
observed that human “cognitions have an evolutionary-based built-in and powerful bias to
overweight resource loss and underweight resource gain”, (Hobfoll et al., 2018, p. 104).
Psychological and socio-emotional resources (such as relational trust and supportive
managers/peers) are critical resources in the COR framework (Ahmad and Kaleem, 2020;
Hobfoll, 1989). Resource depletion has been regarded as more disastrous than resource gain
since deleterious conditions/encounters result in a substantial diminution of cognitive and
socio-emotional resources (Bayighomog et al., 2023;Hobfoll et al., 2018).
Pervasive in service-based work contexts, workplace favoritism, i.e. biased behavior towards
close associates instead of fair treatment for all, ultimately hinders organizational performance
and growth as it reduces employee commitment and induces workplace withdrawal (Arasli and
Karadal, 2009;Abubakar et al., 2017). The underlying reason for this may lie in employees’
cynicism, mistrust, and skepticism about the distribution of organizational resources,
performance appraisal, and rewards, given their managers’ favoritism (Abubakar et al., 2017).
Non-recipients of favoritism constitute most of the employee base, and organizations must strive
to retain these employees for organizational growth and success (Arasli et al., 2019).
Grounded in COR tenets (Hobfoll, 1989), we assume that in the presence of discriminatory
and unprofessional practices like workplace favoritism, employees may feel unfulfilled and
frustrated when their contributions are overlooked in favor of others who receive favoristic
treatment. Under such conditions, they might experience a depletion of their psychological and
socio-emotional resources, which may drive them to look for additional sources to replenish
them, possibly heightening their multiple jobholding motivations. While investigating the
effect of favoritism on employee attrition in family-based firms, Arasli et al. (2019, p. 198)
observed that “employees’ direct intention to quit in a favoritistic family-run work setting is
PR
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