Gossip 2.0: The role of social media and moral attentiveness on counterproductive work behaviour

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates how negative workplace gossip (NWG) affects counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) through emotional exhaustion. We seek to advance a more nuanced view of negative gossip regarding CWB by exploring the contingency roles of social media (SM) and moral attentiveness (MA). With the use of multisource, time‐lagged data from 306 information technology (IT) professionals and their supervisors, we highlight the importance of SM and MA in understanding how individuals react to negative gossip. Our results indicate a positive relationship between negative gossip and CWB mediated by emotional exhaustion. Notably, we found that the use of SM in the workplace strengthens the positive relationship between negative gossip and employees' emotional exhaustion. In addition, the indirect effect of gossip on CWB via exhaustion was moderated by individuals' moral attentiveness. Finally, we describe the implications for managers and promising avenues for future research.