Don’t Shoot the Messenger? A Morality- and Gender-Based Model of Reactions to Negative Workplace Gossip

Kakarika, Maria; Taghavi, Shiva; González-Gómez, Helena

doi:10.1007/s10551-023-05355-7

Don’t Shoot the Messenger? A Morality- and Gender-Based Model of Reactions to Negative Workplace Gossip

Kakarika, Maria; Taghavi, Shiva; González-Gómez, Helena

Authors

Dr Maria Kakarika maria.kakarika@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Shiva Taghavi

Helena González-Gómez

Abstract

We conducted three studies to examine how the recipients of negative workplace gossip judge the gossip sender’s morality and how they respond behaviorally. Study 1 provided experimental evidence that gossip recipients perceive senders as low in morality, with female recipients rating the sender’s morality more negatively than male recipients. In a follow-up experiment (Study 2), we further found that perceived low morality translates into behavioral responses in the form of career-related sanctions by the recipient on the gossip sender. A critical incident study (Study 3) enhanced the external validity and extended the moderated mediation model by showing that gossip recipients also penalize senders with social exclusion. We discuss the implications for practice and research on negative workplace gossip, gender differences in attributions of morality, and gossip recipients’ behavioral responses.

Citation

Kakarika, M., Taghavi, S., & González-Gómez, H. (2024). Don’t Shoot the Messenger? A Morality- and Gender-Based Model of Reactions to Negative Workplace Gossip. Journal of Business Ethics, 189(2), 329-344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05355-7

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 1, 2023
Online Publication Date	Mar 4, 2023
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2024
Deposit Date	Feb 3, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Apr 17, 2023
Journal	Journal of Business Ethics
Print ISSN	0167-4544
Electronic ISSN	1573-0697
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	189
Issue	2
Pages	329-344
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05355-7
Keywords	Sanctioning, Gender, Morality, Attribution, Gossip
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1181853

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