IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v175y2022i2d10.1007_s10551-020-04648-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Targets Strike Back: How Negative Workplace Gossip Triggers Political Acts by Employees

Author

Listed:
  • Bao Cheng

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

  • Yun Dong

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

  • Zhenduo Zhang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Ahmed Shaalan

    (Cranfield University
    Tanta University)

  • Gongxing Guo

    (Shantou University)

  • Yan Peng

    (Xiamen University)

Abstract

This study examines why and when negative workplace gossip promotes self-serving behaviors by the employees being targeted. Using conservation of resources (COR) theory, we find that targets tend to increase their political acts as a result of ego depletion triggered by negative gossip. We also show that sensitivity to interpersonal mistreatment and moral disengagement moderate this process. Specifically, we demonstrate that targets with high levels of sensitivity to interpersonal mistreatment are more likely to experience ego depletion, and that targets with high levels of moral disengagement will find it easier to persuade themselves to engage in political acts. We conducted a three-wave time-lagged survey of 265 employees in Guangdong, China, to test our hypotheses. The results support our theoretical model and indicate that COR theory can be used to explain the impacts of negative workplace gossip. Alongside our important and timely theoretical contributions, we provide new perspectives on how managers can avoid or mitigate these political acts.

Suggested Citation

  • Bao Cheng & Yun Dong & Zhenduo Zhang & Ahmed Shaalan & Gongxing Guo & Yan Peng, 2022. "When Targets Strike Back: How Negative Workplace Gossip Triggers Political Acts by Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(2), pages 289-302, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:175:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04648-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04648-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-020-04648-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-020-04648-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bao Cheng & Xing Zhou & Gongxing Guo & Kezhen Yang, 2020. "Perceived Overqualification and Cyberloafing: A Moderated-Mediation Model Based on Equity Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 565-577, July.
    2. Jean-Pierre Neveu & Stevan E. Hobfoll & Jonathon Halbesleben & M Westman, 2018. "Conservation of resources in the organizational context : the reality of resources and their consequences," Post-Print hal-02472360, HAL.
    3. Qi-tao Tian & Yang Song & Ho Kwong Kwan & Xue Li, 2019. "Workplace gossip and frontline employees’ proactive service performance," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 25-42, January.
    4. Xiao-Yu Liu & Ho Kwong Kwan & Xiaomeng Zhang, 2020. "Introverts maintain creativity: A resource depletion model of negative workplace gossip," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 325-344, March.
    5. Bandura, Albert, 1991. "Social cognitive theory of self-regulation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 248-287, December.
    6. Gino, Francesca & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Mead, Nicole L. & Ariely, Dan, 2011. "Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 191-203, July.
    7. Xiangfan Wu & Ho Kwong Kwan & Long-Zeng Wu & Jie Ma, 2018. "The Effect of Workplace Negative Gossip on Employee Proactive Behavior in China: The Moderating Role of Traditionality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 801-815, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bao Cheng & Yan Peng & Ahmed Shaalan & Marwa Tourky, 2023. "The Hidden Costs of Negative Workplace Gossip: Its Effect on Targets’ Behaviors, the Mediating Role of Guanxi Closeness, and the Moderating Effect of Need for Affiliation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 287-302, January.
    2. Xiaolei Zou & Xiaoxi Chen & Fengling Chen & Chuxin Luo & Hongyan Liu, 2020. "The Influence of Negative Workplace Gossip on Knowledge Sharing: Insight from the Cognitive Dissonance Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Boqiang Zong & Elena Martinescu & Bianca Beersma & Shiyong Xu & Lihua Zhang, 2024. "How Multi-Source Gossip Affects Targets’ Emotions and Strategic Behavioral Responses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 385-402, January.
    4. Xiaoming Zheng & Xin Qin & Xin Liu & Hui Liao, 2019. "Will Creative Employees Always Make Trouble? Investigating the Roles of Moral Identity and Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 653-672, July.
    5. Karen Niven & Colm Healy, 2016. "Susceptibility to the ‘Dark Side’ of Goal-Setting: Does Moral Justification Influence the Effect of Goals on Unethical Behavior?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 115-127, August.
    6. Gajendran, Ravi S. & Loewenstein, Jeffrey & Choi, Hyeran & Ozgen, Sibel, 2022. "Hidden costs of text-based electronic communication on complex reasoning tasks: Motivation maintenance and impaired downstream performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Vanessa Begemann & Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock & Maie Stein, 2023. "Peeling Away the Layers of Workplace Gossip: A Framework, Review, and Future Research Agenda to Study Workplace Gossip as a Dynamic and Complex Behavior," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-21, April.
    8. Zhao, Hongdan & Zhao, Siyong & Chen, Yuanhua & Yu, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Bystanders’ reactions to leader knowledge hiding: The roles of moral disengagement and moral identity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    9. Bruno Lussier & Nathaniel N. Hartmann & Willy Bolander, 2021. "Curbing the Undesirable Effects of Emotional Exhaustion on Ethical Behaviors and Performance: A Salesperson–Manager Dyadic Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 747-766, April.
    10. Zhi Xu & Hing Ma, 2015. "Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 371-384, March.
    11. Al Halbusi, Hussam & Ruiz-Palomino, Pablo & Williams, Kent A., 2023. "Ethical leadership, subordinates’ moral identity and self-control: Two- and three-way interaction effect on subordinates’ ethical behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Kanfer, Ruth & Chen, Gilad, 2016. "Motivation in organizational behavior: History, advances and prospects," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 6-19.
    13. Rezwan Ullah & Muhammad Zada & Imran Saeed & Jawad Khan & Muhammad Shahbaz & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda, 2021. "Have You Heard That—“GOSSIP”? Gossip Spreads Rapidly and Influences Broadly," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Carlos Bazan, 2022. "Effect of the University’s Environment and Support System on Subjective Social Norms as Precursor of the Entrepreneurial Intention of Students," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    15. Irene Chu & Mai Chi Vu, 2022. "The Nature of the Self, Self-regulation and Moral Action: Implications from the Confucian Relational Self and Buddhist Non-self," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 245-262, September.
    16. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei & Zhu, Xiaojuan & Hu, Qinran, 2018. "Promoting acceptance of direct load control programs in the United States: Financial incentive versus control option," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1278-1287.
    17. Jaeyeob Jeong & Myeonggil Choi, 2017. "The Expected Job Satisfaction Affecting Entrepreneurial Intention as Career Choice in the Cultural and Artistic Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Liora Zimerman & Shaul Shalvi & Yoella Bereby-Meyer, 2014. "Self-reported ethical risk taking tendencies predict actual dishonesty," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 9(1), pages 58-64, January.
    19. Jay A. Richards & Martin P. Johnson, 2014. "A Case for Theoretical Integration," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(2), pages 21582440145, May.
    20. Pedro Marques-Quinteiro & Luís Curral & Ana Passos, 2012. "Adapting The Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire to The Portuguese Context," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 553-564, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:175:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04648-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.