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The double-edged sword of negative workplace gossip: when and how negative workplace gossip promotes versus inhibits knowledge hiding

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Abstract

As a widespread phenomenon in organizations, negative workplace gossip may either facilitate or inhibit knowledge hiding among gossip targets. However, existing literature has not reached a consensus on this matter. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study proposes the double-edged sword effect of negative workplace gossip and explores when and how negative workplace gossip can promote or inhibit knowledge hiding of the targets. This study collected data from 309 Chinese employees through a two-wave questionnaire survey and analyzed the data using Mplus 8.3 and Process Macro. The study found that for targets with an external locus of control, negative workplace gossip stimulates their negative emotions, thereby promoting knowledge hiding. Conversely, for targets with an internal locus of control, negative workplace gossip will promote their relational crafting, thereby inhibiting knowledge hiding. Finally, this study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and future research directions, which can help scholars and managers have a better understanding of negative workplace gossip.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by China’s National Natural Science Foundation (72172086 and 71772116) and “Shuguang Program” supported by Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (21SG41).

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  1. School of Management, Shanghai University, No. 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, 200444, People’s Republic of China

    Hongdan Zhao, Yunshuo Ma & Yuanhua Chen

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  1. Hongdan Zhao
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  2. Yunshuo Ma
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Correspondence to Hongdan Zhao.

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Appendix

Appendix

Negative workplace gossip

We used a three-item scale developed by Chandra and Robinson (2009).

  1. 1.

    In the past six months, others (e.g., coworkers and/or supervisors) communicated damaging information about me in the workplace

  2. 2.

    In the past six months, others (e.g., coworkers and/or supervisors) spread unfavorable gossip about me in the workplace

  3. 3.

    In the past six months, others (e.g., coworkers and/or supervisors) made negative allegations about me in the workplace

Chandra and Robinson (2009). They’re talking about me again: The impact of being the target of gossip on emotional distress and withdrawal. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.

Negative emotions

We utilized a 5-item negative emotions scale adapted by Liu et al. (2007) from the Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JWAS, Van Katwyk et al., 2000).

  1. 1.

    My job makes me feel angry

  2. 2.

    My job makes me feel anxious

  3. 3.

    My job makes me feel disgusted

  4. 4.

    My job makes me feel frightened

  5. 5.

    My job makes me feel furious

Liu, C., Spector, P. E., & Shi, L. (2007). Cross-national job stress: A quantitative and qualitative study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(2), 209–239.

Van Katwyk, P. T., Fox, S., Spector, P. E., & Kelloway, E. K. (2000). Using the Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) to investigate affective responses to work stressors. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(2), 219–230.

Relational crafting

We employed a 5-item scale developed by Slemp and Vella-Brodrick (2013) to measure the relational crafting of gossip targets in the workplace.

  1. 1.

    Make an effort to get to know people well at work

  2. 2.

    Organise or attend work related social functions

  3. 3.

    Organise special events in the workplace (e.g., celebrating a co-worker's birthday)

  4. 4.

    Choose to mentor new employees (officially or unofficially)

  5. 5.

    Make friends with people at work who have similar skills or interests

Slemp, G. R., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2013). The job crafting questionnaire: A new scale to measure the extent to which employees engage in job crafting. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(2), 126–146.

Locus of control

According to the recommendations of Mulki and Lassk (2019), we used a four-item scale specifically designed to measure external locus of control, which was taken from the 16-item scale developed by Spector (1988).

  1. 1.

    The main difference between people who make a lot of money and people who make a little money is luck.

  2. 2.

    It takes a lot of luck to be an outstanding employee.

  3. 3.

    Promotions are usually a matter of good fortune.

  4. 4.

    Getting the job you want is mostly a matter of luck.

Mulki, J., & Lassk, F. G. (2019). Joint impact of ethical climate and external work locus of control on job meaningfulness. Journal of Business Research, 99, 46–56.

Spector, P. E. (1988). Development of the work locus of control scale. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 61(4), 335–340.

Knowledge hiding

We utilized a 4-item scale developed by Rhee and Choi (2017) to measure the knowledge hiding of gossip targets.

  1. 1.

    I agreed to help him/her but never really intended to.

  2. 2.

    I pretended that I did not know the information.

  3. 3.

    I said that I did not know even though I did.

  4. 4.

    I tried to hide innovative solutions and achievements.

Rhee, Y. W., & Choi, J. N. (2017). Knowledge management behavior and individual creativity: Goal orientations as antecedents and in-group social status as moderating contingency: Knowledge management behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(6), 813–832.

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Zhao, H., Ma, Y. & Chen, Y. The double-edged sword of negative workplace gossip: when and how negative workplace gossip promotes versus inhibits knowledge hiding. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05954-1

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