Uit een gemeenschappelijke studie door onderzoekers in Nederland, Spanje en Argentinië blijkt dat er verschillen bestaan tussen de geslachten als het gaat over jaloezie en nijd op de werkvloer. Het onderzoek zou een nieuwe invalshoek zijn.

Rosario Zurriaga, onderzoekster in Valencia vat samen: “Women with a high level of intrasexual competition are more jealous if the rival is more attractive and more envious if the rival is more powerful and dominating. They did not get any results in men, as no rival characteristics that provoke jealousy or envy predicted intrasexual competition” (bron)

Abstract van het onderzoek:

From an evolutionary perspective, this article deals with sex differences in jealousy and envy evoking rival characteristics in a work setting and their relationship with intra-sexual competition. The sample consisted of 114 employees from various professional fields. The rivals evoked more jealousy and envy in women than in men, especially when the rival was physically attractive. In both sexes, communal attributes and social power and dominance were the most jealousy and envy evoking characteristics. Among women, individual differences in intra-sexual competition were related to jealousy evoked by a physically attractive rival, and to envy evoked by a rival high in social power and dominance. In contrast, among men the rival characteristics were not related to individual differences in intra-sexual competition. This study is one of the first to provide evidence for gender differences in jealousy and envy in work settings.