Articlegreen2022

Why and how targets’ negative workplace gossip exhort knowledge hiding? Shedding light on organizational justice

Abdul Gaffar Khan · Yan Li · Zubair Akram · Umair Akram

50 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Knowledge Management

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Knowledge Management and Sharing Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior Workplace Violence and Bullying

Abstract

Purpose Extant scholars identified negative workplace gossip as a social stressor that negatively influences employees’ behavior and attitude. Despite the burgeoning interest in workplace stressors, limited studies have explored how the detrimental consequences of targets’ perceived negative workplace gossip spur their emotions and behaviors. Grounding on conservation of resources and ego depletion theories, this study aims to investigate why and how targets’ negative workplace gossip may contribute to trigger knowledge hiding. Specifically, the authors explore the underlying mechanism of personal ego depletion and boundary conditions of organizational justice to shed new light on the above process. Design/methodology/approach Using two time-wave survey, the authors collected 340 sample data from employees working in high-tech companies of China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine hypothesized relationships of moderated mediation model. Findings The empirical results revealed that negative workplace gossip exacerbates knowledge hiding by increasing personal ego depletion. Furthermore, through testing moderated mediation model, the results showed that organizational justice (i.e. distributive and procedural justice) with the low presence moderates the stronger strength of the linkage between negative workplace gossip and personal ego depletion, and likewise, it also moderates the stronger effect of negative workplace gossip on knowledge hiding via personal ego depletion. Practical implications This study recommends several guidelines for managers and practitioners to mitigate negative gossip by strengthening organizational justice. Originality/value This study first enriches novel understanding in the literature between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding by using a new emotional mechanism (i.e. personal ego depletion). This research also contributes new insights by incorporating contextual boundary conditions (i.e. organizational justice) that have not been yet researched on negative gossip and knowledge hiding linkage.

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References

2003Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.1989Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress.1970Back-Translation for Cross-Cultural Research 1998Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification.1965Inequity In Social Exchange 2001Bad is Stronger than Good 2001The Influence of Culture, Community, and the Nested‐Self in the Stress Process: Advancing Conservation of Resources Theory 2017Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context: The Reality of Resources and Their Consequences

Cited by

2023Sailing through silence: exploring how negative gossip leaves breeding grounds for quiet quitting in the workplace 2023Distributive Injustice and Work Disengagement in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Mediating Roles of the Workplace Negative Gossip and Organizational Cynicism 2024Unlocking the potential: Exploring the interplay of humble leadership, self-efficacy, and negative gossip in overcoming knowledge hiding 2024The double-edged sword of negative workplace gossip: when and how negative workplace gossip promotes versus inhibits knowledge hiding

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