Reinforcing or eroding norms? The team consequences of negative gossip network.

Abstract

While prior research has established that negative gossip can reinforce behavioral norms by deterring inappropriate conduct, these findings have largely been limited to the individual level. Accordingly, it remains unclear how gossip influences team norms at the team level-specifically, whether it continues to reinforce team norms against inappropriate conduct, as suggested by individual-level findings, or instead may backfire to erode such norms. Integrating the social network perspective with behavioral regulation theory, we propose competing hypotheses about how team-level gossip shapes proscriptive team norms, which serve to deter harmful behaviors that team members should not engage in: a norm-reinforcing effect and a norm-eroding effect. We conceptualize team-level gossip through both its prevalence (network density) and its distribution (network reciprocity and centralization). We further propose that gossip prevalence and distribution interact in predicting proscriptive team norms. We conducted a multiwave, multisource, round-robin study of 104 work teams with 1,344 team members and 104 supervisors. Contrary to the norm-reinforcing effect commonly shown in individual-level studies, our findings support a norm-eroding effect at the team level. Specifically, gossip density was associated with weakened proscriptive team norms, which in turn predicted increased proscription-based behavior-namely, team counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, this norm-eroding effect of gossip density on team norms and counterproductive work behavior was amplified in teams with higher levels of gossip reciprocity or lower levels of gossip centralization. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).