Workplace Negative Gossip Atmosphere and Employees’ Cyberloafing Behaviors: Effects and Mechanisms

Abstract

Most previous studies of workplace gossip pay attention to its impacts on the target of gossip, but few focus on how audience of gossip in the workplace may be influenced when workplace gossip happens. This study adopts audience-centric perspective to understand workplace negative gossip, proposes the construct of “workplace negative gossip atmosphere” (WNGA), and studies how employees’ perception of WNGA influence their behaviors (cyberloafing). Based on the theory of social information processing and ego depletion theory, this study proposes a dual path model under the “cognitive-emotional” framework. The data analysis software STATA 15.1 is used to analyse 243 employee data collected at 3 time points, and hierarchical regression analyses are conducted to to examine the model. Results show that: 1) WNGA positively influences employees’ cyberloafing behaviors; 2) Employees’ cognitive trust and emotional exhaustion play mediating roles between WNGA and cyberloafing behaviors, respectively. 3) Task interdependence is a moderator that changes both the relationship between WNGA and cognitive trust, and the relationship between WNGA and emotional exhaustion. This study broadens the research thinking in the field of workplace negative gossip and cyberloafing, and also offers some management suggestions for organizations.