Is not workplace gossip bad? The effect of positive workplace gossip on employee innovative behavior

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the role of positive workplace gossip (PWG) in employee innovative behavior, whereby a mediating effect of employee loyalty is proposed in this relationship. The moderating effect of organizational trust (OT) is also examined on the indirect of PWG on employee innovative behavior through employee loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThis research used a survey data of 327 employees from the enterprises selected from the Pearl River and Yangtze River Delta region of China. Based on the literature review, five main hypotheses were formulated and explored. The SPSS-Process Macro Plugin was used to analyze the hypothesized model.FindingsResults show there is a positive and significant relationship between PWG and employee innovative behavior. This study also confirm that employee loyalty is an intervening variable and OT as a moderator.Practical implicationsOrganizations should pay more attention to workplace gossip phenomena, encourage employees to take appropriate part in positive workplace gossip and to communicate positive information about other colleagues, and build an inclusive, open, sincere, and interdependent platform in the organization.Originality/valueEmployee innovative behavior plays an essential role in organization’s survival and development. Few studies have investigated PWG may promote employee innovative behavior through employee loyalty. The data, model, and findings of this research address the gap and complement the current state of knowledge.

Dish the dirt! Dual effects of workplace gossip patterns in linking coworker friendship with incivility in the restaurant context

“…Regarding control variables, Prabhu et al (2023) showed that female subordinates found it unprofessional for male coworkers to relay team leaders’ instructions to them as they perceived them as uncivil. Subordinates in their 30s or less reported experiencing incivility significantly more often than their coworkers in their 40s (Dai et al , 2022). However, older coworkers tend to have rude conversations with supervisors about younger coworkers because they are trusted and fear the organization’s reputation from such supervisors’ views (Climek et al , 2022).…”

“…The “organizational” context is the first layer, which includes elements such as organizational trust (Dai et al , 2022). This link is bidirectional, meaning that workplace gossip may impact and influence the overall organizational setting.…”

“…The second layer is the “interpersonal dyadic” context, which focuses on the gossip dynamic’s ties between two people. This covers interpersonal phenomena such as gossiper friendships (Climek et al , 2022) and receiver-helping behavior toward the gossip sender (Dai et al , 2022). The third layer is the “interpersonal group environment,” which takes into account variables such as group norms (Tian et al , 2019) and group cohesiveness (Boukis et al , 2020).…”

From the dual-dimensional perspective of employee mindfulness and superior trust, explore the influence mechanism of negative workplace gossip on work engagement

“…Gossip is ubiquitous. In daily life, people often hear, participate in or spread other people's gossip intentionally or unintentionally, and use it as an important way to obtain information, vent emotions and maintain relationships (8). In the specific social situation of the workplace, positive and negative gossip can be distinguished in the workplace, with the latter's prevalence and worry rates being of more concern (9)(10)(11).…”

“…According to the conservation of resources theory, individuals exhibit a proclivity to uphold, safeguard, and obtain resources (24), and the loss of resources will lead to negative behaviors of employees (19). Specifically, negative gossip in the workplace makes employees feel isolated, worsens the interpersonal relationship among employees (8,25), and increases the uncertainty and instability of work tasks (26), leading to serious depletion of employees' emotional and psychological resources (27). The depletion of emotional and psychological resources has a detrimental impact on employee enthusiasm and dedication, posing challenges for employees in fully engaging with their work.…”