The effect of negative workplace gossip about supervisor on knowledge sharing and interaction avoidance: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

Although negative workplace gossip about supervisors (NWGS) is a prevalent phenomenon, how gossip recipients respond to coworkers' NWGS—particularly taking the perceived motives of gossip into consideration—remains insufficiently understood. Drawing from gossip attribution theory and adopting the recipient perspective, we propose that gossip recipients' emotional and behavioral reactions to coworkers depend on their attribution of the coworker's motive for engaging in NWGS. Using a two-wave critical incident survey design with a sample of 234 U.S. employees, we tested this moderated mediation model through structural equation modeling. Results show that when recipients perceive NWGS as driven by a support-seeking motive, they experience compassion and tend to engage in knowledge sharing. In contrast, when recipients perceive NWGS as driven by an information-seeking motive, they experience moral disgust and tend to engage in interaction avoidance. This study advances understanding of how motive attribution shapes recipients' emotional and interpersonal reactions to coworkers' NWGS, offering novel theoretical and practical insights.