Ingratiation is widespread in modern work environments. However, the majority of prior research has mostly concentrated on employees’ ingratiation to gain favor with their superiors, whereas only a limited number of studies have examined the phenomenon of ingratiation among peers. Furthermore, in the limited studies, researchers have mostly adopted the actor perspective, while disregarding the effects of the ingratiation on the receiver. Therefore, based on the conservation of resources theory, this study intends to explore the double-edged sword effect of peers ingratiation on employee vigor from the receiver perspective. The results of a multi-wave and multi-source survey showed that accepting peer ingratiation has both positive and negative effects. On one hand, peer ingratiation enhanced employees’ perceived peer support, leading to increased employee vigor. On the other hand, it also induced employees’ role overload, resulting in decreased employee vigor. Additionally, core self-evaluation can mitigate the impact of peer ingratiation on employee role overload and promote its positive effects on perceived peer support. Our findings uncover the ambivalent impacts of peer ingratiation and offer insights for organizations to manage peer ingratiation behavior at workplace.
