DOI:10.6129/CJP.202212_64(4).0003
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2022, Vol.64, No.4, 471-492

Who’s Gossiping in the Workplace?
A Study of Dispositional Envy and Organizational Identification

Chien-Chih Kuo(Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University1), Hsuan-Hsuan Ku(Department of International Business, Soochow University), Sheng Cheng(School of Business, Suzhou University of Science and Technology), Mei-Chi Lin(Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University)

Abstract

The present study employed self-consistency and self-evaluation perspectives to investigate how dispositional envy and organizational identification influence workplace gossip and also the moderating effect of organizational identification on the relationship between envy and gossip. Data was gathered from a variety of Taiwan industries including semiconductor, service, manufacturing, and chemistry. Results from the 248 full-time worker participants demonstrated that dispositional envy has positive influences on both types of gossip at work (positive and negative gossip). Further, organizational identification was favorably linked to positive gossip, and disidentification with the organization was connected favorably to negative gossip. Organizational identification moderates the correspondence between dispositional envy and negative, rather than positive, gossip, whereas the moderating effect of organizational disidentification was nonsignificant. Therefore, organizational identification has both direct and moderating effects on workplace gossip. The study also discussed empirical results related to theory and practice.

Keywords: dispositional envy, organizational identification, organizational disidentification, workplace gossip