The social cost of high performance: interactive effects of task interdependence and perceived need for power

Purpose Noting that prior research on the social costs of high performance has largely treated coworker mistreatment as discretionary and driven by comparative emotions such as envy and threat, this study examines how social interpretations about high performers shape coworker responses in more structurally constrained work contexts. Drawing on social information processing theory, the paper aims to investigate the joint influence of task interdependence and perceived need for power on the performance–ostracism relationship, while also testing competing effects of task interdependence on coworker ostracism toward high performers. Design/methodology/approach A multi-wave, multisource field study (n = 282) was conducted in work teams. Given the nested data structure, this study used hierarchical linear modeling in Mplus version 8.10 to test cross-level interactions among performance, perceived need for power and task interdependence. Findings A significant three-way interaction among performance, task interdependence and perceived need for power shows that higher task interdependence is generally associated with reduced coworker ostracism toward high performers across teams. However, this buffering effect reverses when the performer is perceived as high in need for power, such that greater interdependence leads to substantially higher ostracism. Originality/value The study offers a novel perspective on the social costs of high performance by highlighting that team-level structures and individual-level perceptions operate in tandem to shape coworker responses toward high performers. In doing so, we contribute to the burgeoning research on socio-relational consequences of high performance by revealing the boundary conditions that regulate coworker ostracism.