Status competition is a fundamental yet often underexamined dynamic in organizational life. Although status hierarchies help coordinate roles and motivate performance, employees frequently differ in whether they perceive status positions as fixed or changeable. When status appears "up for grabs," employees may intensify efforts to enhance their standing. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms through which perceived status hierarchy mutability shapes competitive workplace behavior.


Drawing on social information processing theory, we propose that status hierarchy mutability serves as a salient contextual cue that activates employees' status motive—the desire to gain respect and admiration from others. Heightened status motive, in turn, promotes self-promotion behaviors aimed at signaling instrumental value to relevant audiences. Importantly, we distinguish between supervisor-focused and peer-focused self-promotion, recognizing that status is conferred not only vertically but also horizontally within work groups. We further argue that team self-promotion climate conditions whether status-motivated employees express their motives behaviorally.


We tested this multilevel moderated mediation model using two-wave survey data from 483 employees nested within 117 work groups across 16 organizations in China. Results indicate that status hierarchy mutability positively predicts status motive, which subsequently increases both supervisor-focused and peer-focused self-promotion. However, team self-promotion climate weakens the relationship between status motive and peer-focused self-promotion, suggesting that when self-promotion is pervasive, its effectiveness as a distinct status signal diminishes.


These findings illuminate how mutable status structures energize competitive self-presentation and reshape team dynamics. By identifying both motivational and contextual mechanisms, this research offers applied insights into how organizations can manage status competition, design fair evaluation systems, and foster healthier team climates.