How negative workplace gossip undermines employees’ career growth: from a reputational perspective
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 20 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how and when negative workplace gossip damages hospitality employees’ career growth, based on social information processing (SIP) and social cognitive career theories.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors gathered data from 379 individuals working in Guangzhou’s hospitality industry with a multi-wave survey.
Findings
This research found that negative workplace gossip harms career growth by damaging one’s personal reputation, and concern for reputation plays a moderating role. In particular, employees displaying greater concern for reputation are more inclined to perceive a diminished personal reputation when exposed to negative workplace gossip, resulting in more negative assessments of their career growth prospects in their organization.
Practical implications
This study has some practical implications. It highlights the need to mitigate negative workplace gossip by fostering a harmonious work environment, implementing reputation-focused training programs and providing support to employees who are particularly concerned about their personal reputations.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the knowledge by empirically revealing the career consequences of negative workplace gossip, incorporating personal reputation and concern for reputation in the theoretical model and advancing research in the vocational and gossip domains. It also enriches SIP and social cognitive career theories while focusing on the hospitality industry.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding details: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 72102189] and MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences [grant numbers 21YJC630015].
Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Ethics: All the procedures in this study involving human subjects were carried out in compliance with the institutional research committee’s ethical standards, as well as the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its subsequent revisions or similar ethical standards. All participants provided written, informed consent.
Citation
Cheng, B., Peng, Y., Tian, J. and Shaalan, A. (2023), "How negative workplace gossip undermines employees’ career growth: from a reputational perspective", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2023-0234
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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