Those engaged in the practice are likely to wonder if members of the group are gossiping about them behind their backs. And the person you're addressing is expected to find out and probably never be able to trust their colleagues again. Gossip and rumors can drive friends away, ruin reputations, and even lead to ostracism and other forms of relational aggression. Do you want to stay in touch with The Rebelution? Enter your email address and I'll send you our free resource 27 books Christian teens should read.
This is because the main focus of this study focused on the perception of the objectives of gossip, rather than on having actually been the target of the gossip and on the resulting emotional and behavioral consequences. There have been some negative gossip studies that investigated the behavioral responses of targets after hearing gossip about them. Therefore, a high level of self-control reduces the detrimental impact of negative workplace gossip on the target, alleviating the fear of losing one's reputation. Participants reported their own participation in negative gossip using a five-item scale developed by Brady et al.
Hypothesis 4 predicted that fear of losing one's reputation mediates the relationship between negative workplace gossip and engaging in negative gossip. However, when the recipients of negative gossip have a low level of self-control, negative gossip is more likely to further aggravate their bad reputation, because they lack adequate preparedness and repression skills (Turnley and Bolino, 200), increasing the fear of losing their reputation. Regarding the moderating effects of this study, hypothesis 5 predicted that self-control moderates the relationship between negative gossip in the workplace and fear of losing one's reputation.
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