The Innocent Bystander: A Scenario Based Study on the Impact of Leadership Gossip

Author

Samantha Lobins, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaFollow
Amanda Cruz Lesswing, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaFollow
Julia Anglin, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaFollow
Katrina Johnson, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaFollow
Kristen BlackFollow

Volume

29

Number

1

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

2023

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand how witnessing workplace gossip between a supervisor and an employee in a hypothetical scenario impacts ratings of acceptability of gossip behavior, leader quality ratings, relationship quality, and future comfort with the leader. Data were gathered from 207 college students who read a scenario involving gossip, which varied in the target (about oneself or another) and the domain (about work or personal matters) and then responded to a series of questions about the scenario. Across all four scenarios, leaders received fairly unfavorable ratings for participating in gossip behavior. However, we did not find consistent main effects based on the target or domain and there were no significant interactions between domain and target. Limitations and practical implications are further discussed.

Keyword

workplace gossip, experimental vignette methodology, psychological contract, supervisor Gossip

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Lobins, Samantha; Cruz Lesswing, Amanda; Anglin, Julia; Johnson, Katrina; and Black, Kristen (2023) "The Innocent Bystander: A Scenario Based Study on the Impact of Leadership Gossip," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 29: No. 1, Article 14.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol29/iss1/14