Gossip in the workplace and the implications for HR management: a study of gossip and its relationship to employee cynicism

Abstract

Gossip is a common phenomenon in the workplace, but yet relatively little is understood about its influence to employees. This study adopts social information theory and social cognitive theory to interpret the diverse literature on gossip, and to develop and test hypotheses concerning some of the antecedents of gossip, with an aim of developing knowledge of the relationship between gossip and employee behaviour in the workplace. The study analysed survey data in a two-stage process, from 362 employees across a range of industries in Taiwan. The findings revealed that jobrelated gossip predicted employee cynicism and mediated the relationship between psychological contract violation and cynicism, and that non-job-related gossip showed a similar but weaker effect to employee cynicism. The contribution made by this paper is of value to both the academic subject domain and managers in Human Resources. First, we have identified two constructs of gossip, job-related and non-job-related gossip not previously reported and a validated scale has been created. Second, we have confirmed that these different constructs of gossip impact differently on employee behaviour and therefore HR managers should be cautious about gossip in the workplace, as it can cause cynical behaviour amongst employees.

Does Abusive Supervision Influence Organizational Citizenship Behavior? Testing the Mediation Effects of Organizational Cynicism

“…First, abusive supervision can predict organizational cynicism and psychological contract violation as it founded in previous studies (Kuo et al, 2015;Whitman et al, 2014) [15] [40]. Employees who develop emotional attachment with their organization, if they observe aggressive verbal or non-verbal behavior of supervisor, they get frustrated and less likely to show their commitment.…”

HR practice, organisational commitment & citizenship behaviour

“…Following this trend, the concept of HR practice has spread vividly to the schools, aiming to promote school dynamics, enhance administration efficacy and contribute to the staff management (Chan, 2001). HR practice at schools has also drawn some academic attention, but more research is needed that specifically relates to the HR efforts of public sector organisations, including non-profit colleges, public and private institutions (Kuo et al, 2015;Melewar and Nguyen, 2015). Armstrong (2006) defines HR as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation's most valued asset: "the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business and organisations".…”

Gossiping about outsiders: How time-related work stress among collectivistic employees hinders job performance

“…This process transfers the focus, from their own inadequacies to those of other people in the organization, thereby preserving feelings of self-worth (Brady et al, 2017;Noon & Delbridge, 1993). Ultimately, employees may maintain a more positive image of themselves, even if they cannot handle the time pressures they face, if they shift attention to the failures of others instead of their own (Grosser et al, 2012;Kuo et al, 2015).…”

“…We propose that to the extent that employees believe they have insufficient time to complete their job tasks, their resulting fear about their job prospects (Gärling et al, 2016) may fuel their desire to maintain their self-esteem by engaging in negative gossip and pointing out the inadequacies of others (Brady, Brown, & Liang, 2017;Ellwardt, Wittek, & Wielers, 2012;Noon & Delbridge, 1993). Perceptions of workplace adversity create self-depreciating thoughts among employees (Akhtar & Shaukat, 2016;Firth, Mellor, Moore, & Loquet, 2004), yet previous research has not investigated how motives to conserve feelings of self-worth might enhance the propensity of time-pressured employees to engage in negative gossip about other organizational members (Erdogan et al, 2015;Kuo, Chang, Quinton, Lu, & Lee, 2015). This enhanced propensity, somewhat paradoxically, might then decrease employees' own ability to succeed in the execution of their job tasks though, because it requires valuable energy resources (Hobfoll, 2001), in line with the argument that gossipers tend to suffer from enhanced anxiety levels and concerns about their organizational functioning when they talk badly about other organizational members (Jaeger, Skleder, Rind, & Rosnow, 1994;Michelson & Mouly, 2004).…”