Summary of Workplace gossip

Definitions and types of workplace gossip

Gossip is defined as "informal and evaluative talk in an organization, usually among no more than a few individuals, about another member of that organization who is not present" (Kurland and Pelled, 2000)

Gossip is a ubiquitous phenomenon which accounts for approximately 65% of people's speaking time (Dunbar, 2004). Gossip is important for organizations because it counts as an important form of informal control of the organizations, which mainly refers to the informal relationships among employees. Gossip is argued to be the main mechanisms used by employees to strengthen informal relationships.

Workplace gossip is defined as “informal and evaluative talk in an organization about another member of that organization who is not present” (Kurland and Pelled, 2000). Gossips have two features. First, gossips can be evaluated as positive or negative. Second the gossip object is not presented. Previous studies have mostly focus on who is likely to be a gossiper or who will gossip with whom and whom these people choose to gossip about (Ellwardt et al.,2012). However, few of them try to look at what will happen if the gossip object happens to know the gossip. Whether the gossip object will still be cooperative with the gossiper?

Gossip is classified through three dimensions: sign, credibility and work-relatedness. Gossip can be positive or negative. Credibility refers to the degree to which gossips are viewed as accurate or not. Gossip is also categorized by whether the context is related to work (professional) or not (social).


References:

Dunbar, R. I. (2004). Gossip in evolutionary perspective. Review of general psychology, 8(2), 100.

Kurland, N. B., & Pelled, L. H. (2000). Passing the word: Toward a model of gossip and power in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 25(2), 428-438.

Ellwardt, L., Labianca, G. J., & Wittek, R. (2012). Who are the objects of positive and negative gossip at work?: A social network perspective on workplace gossip. Social Networks, 34(2), 193-205.