Negative Gossip Decreases Targets' Organizational Citizenship Behavior by Decreasing Social Inclusion. A Multi-Method Approach.

Bianca Beersma,Wiebren Jansen,Elena Martinescu

doi:10.1177/1059601120986876

Abstract

Ample experimental evidence shows that negative gossip fosters cooperation in groups by increasing individuals’ reputational concerns. However, recent field studies showed that negative gossip decreases organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among its targets (i.e., people whom gossip is about). Bridging these findings, we study the role of social inclusion in explaining how negative gossip affects targets’ engagement in OCB. Based on social exchange theory, we predict that targets of negative gossip experience low social inclusion. In turn, we propose that low social inclusion leads to low OCB of gossip targets. Results of three studies, a correlational study (N = 563), a laboratory experiment (N = 85), and an online scenario experiment (N = 597), showed that being the target of negative gossip reduced social inclusion and indirectly decreased OCBs. Our multi-method approach bridges findings from research conducted in organizations and in laboratory experiments and offers a more nuanced understanding of the effects of negative gossip on targets’ behavior. We show that due to its detrimental effect on targets’ social inclusion, negative gossip may not be as effective for enabling sustainable cooperation as experimental studies claim it to be.

Highlights

Gossip, or talk about others who are not present, which is often informal and evaluative, is pervasive in daily interactions (Dunbar, 2004; Dunbar, Marriott, & Duncan, 1997; Emler, 1994; Foster 2004)
We focus on a mediating mechanism that has not been examined in previous research, but which is likely to play an important role in explaining the effect of negative gossip on targets’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB): social inclusion
We tested a model specifying the second-order factor negative gossip consisting of negative prosocial gossip and negative harmful gossip, the second-order factor social inclusion containing the firstorder factors belonging and authenticity, the two subdimensions of the construct (Jansen et al, 2014), and the first-order factor OCB

Summary

Introduction

Talk about others who are not present, which is often informal and evaluative, is pervasive in daily interactions (Dunbar, 2004; Dunbar, Marriott, & Duncan, 1997; Emler, 1994; Foster 2004). Experimental research has shown that under gossip threat, people allocate more of their resources to others in economic games (Beersma & Van Kleef, 2011; Piazza & Bering, 2008; Wu, Balliet, & Van Lange, 2016a) and are more generous if gossip about them can reach others (Wu, Balliet, & Van Lange, 2016b). These findings have been used to argue that negative gossip elicits desirable behaviors from (potential) gossip targets, who fear for their reputation. Wu et al (2016a) proposed that “gossip and reputation systems could have a sustainable effect on cooperation and potentially cultivate voluntary cooperation” (p. 5)

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