The Complexity of Workplace Gossip

Workplace gossip, or evaluative talk by one employee (gossiper) to another (recipient) about an absent colleague (target), is ubiquitous (Foster, 2005). It is not surprising that increasing research effort has focused on it (Sun, Schilpzand, & Liu, 2022). Although prior research has generated valuable insights, our knowledge on workplace gossip remains incomplete. This is primarily because the phenomenon per se is complex. First, by definition there are at minimum three roles involved in workplace gossip – gossiper, recipient, and target. Different roles may have different attitudes and behaviors in the same episode of workplace gossip. Investigating gossip from different roles’ perspectives, therefore, is necessary for us to comprehensively understand this phenomenon. Second, theory on gossip is traditionally surrounded by debates. For instance, some scholars regarded gossip as bad and immoral behavior (Peters & Kashima, 2013), while others explored the benefits gossip brought to the collective (Feinburg, Willer, Stellar, & Keltner, 2012). Scholars should identify the debates in the literature, and address them by examining contingencies, integrating paradoxical views, and so on. Third, gossip continuously happens in interpersonal interactions at work. Even the same person’s attitudes and behaviors in gossip may change with time and context. Therefore, we may not be able to understand the complexity of workplace gossip without considering temporal and contextual factors associated with it. As stated below, the four studies in our symposium (1) focus on different roles’ perspectives, (2) address debates in the literature, and (3) examine the contextual factors associated with workplace gossip in rigorously designed studies. Paper 1: How is Gossip Viewed in the Eye of the Recipient Author: Yimin He; U. of Nebraska, Omaha Author: Zitong Sheng; Curtin U. Author: Sudong Shang; Griffith Business School, Griffith U. Author: Minghui Wang; Henan U. Paper 2: Negative Workplace Gossip toward the Supervisor and Gossiper Sender’s Well-Being. Author: Dan Ni; School of Business, Sun Yat-sen U. Author: Lindie Hanyu Liang; Wilfrid Laurier U. Author: Midori Nishioka; Wilfrid Laurier U. Author: Xiaoming Zheng; Tsinghua U. Author: Douglas J. Brown; U. of Waterloo Author: Elana Zur; Wilfrid Laurier U. Paper 3: Attack or Repair? Unpacking Employees’ Mixed Responses to Perceived Negative Gossip Author: Rui Zhong; Sauder School of Business, U. of British Columbia Author: Stephen Lee; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Author: Robin Mengxi Yang; School of Economics and Management, U. of Chinese Academy of Sciences Paper 4 Gossip and Its Change During an Event of Layoff: Does Perceived Layoff Justice Matter? Author: Jie Li; Wilfrid Laurier U. Author: Huiwen Lian; Texas A&M U. Author: Qinglin Zhao; Texas A&M U. Author: Yuhuan Xia; Shandong U. Author: Cynthia Lee; Northeastern U. Author: Chenduo Du; U. of Kentucky

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.