Does negative evaluation make you lose yourself? Effects of negative workplace gossip on workplace prosocial behavior of employee

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-04, Vol.43 (15), p.13541-13554
• Main Authors: Guang, Xu, Shan, Liu, Xue, Zhang, Haiyan, Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Employees; Gossip; Psychology; Social Sciences
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-05419-x

Negative workplace gossip is a kind of cold violence in the workplace which seriously affects employees’ work and life. Existing studies have shown that the effect of negative workplace gossip on workplace prosocial behavior lacks theoretical and empirical evidence. The mechanism of negative workplace gossip on workplace prosocial behavior is unclear. Based on the theory of psychological ownership, this study constructed a model of the relationship between negative workplace gossip, perceived collective psychological ownership and workplace prosocial behavior at different levels of social efficacy. We conducted research at several companies in China. At time 1, we measured negative workplace gossip, social efficacy and demographic information; At time 2, a week later, we measured employees’ perceived collective psychological ownership. At time 3, another week passed, we measured workplace prosocial behavior. Finally, we collected 363 valid questionnaires. The empirical results show that: (1) Negative workplace gossip has a significant negative impact on workplace prosocial behavior. (2) Perceived collective psychological ownership mediates between negative workplace gossip and workplace prosocial behavior. (3) Social efficacy moderates the negative relationship between negative workplace gossip and perceived collective psychological ownership. The research results of this paper provide a theoretical basis for the impact of negative workplace gossip on workplace prosocial behavior and provide a practical reference for organizations to deal with negative workplace gossip.