Who Are the Objects of Positive and Negative Gossip at Work? Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Who Are the Objects of Positive and Negative Gossip at Work? Lea Ellwardt University of Groningen / ICS Joe Labianca University of Kentucky Rafael Wittek Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Why Study Gossip? Informal, sozializing ties affect organizational outcomes Workplace gossip as mechanism to reinforce solidarity and ostracism of colleagues from network Gossip = “informal evaluative talking about absent colleagues” Need to distinguish between positive and negative gossip To date hardly research on objects of gossip Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Gossip Triad: Who Are the Objects? Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Gossip Triad: Who Are the Objects? gossip object Two predictors per relationship: connectedness (contact frequency, quantitative aspect) and liking/trust (qualitative aspect) gossip sender gossip receiver Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Main Propositions Types of Gossip Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Main Propositions Types of Gossip Positive gossip as means for interpersonal affection and solidarity Negative gossip as means for social control and ostracism Gossip as Group Process Employees simultaneously embedded in work groups and organizational network Group membership and social position in the broader network determine likelihood of being gossiped about Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Group-level Hypotheses Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Group-level Hypotheses Employees of a group are goal interdependent Benefits of socializing within group Costs of negative gossip high within groups (solidarity norm), but much lower outside groups Use negative gossip against rivaling groups for social comparison, group identity, discrimination H1: Positive gossip is about employees from the gossipers’ work group. H2: Negative gossip is about employees outside the gossipers’ work group. Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Network-level Hypotheses Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Network-level Hypotheses Again, invest solidarity in important others: people high in social status (bask in glory, hope for reciprocity) High costs of negative gossip due to supporters and retaliation Low costs of negative gossip about low-status people → no defenders (“picking on the weak”) H3: Positive gossip is about people high in social status. H4: Negative gossip is about people low in social status. Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Network-level Hypotheses Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Network-level Hypotheses Negative gossip as means for norm enforcement and ostracism by the entire group Uneven distribution among colleagues, focus on single individuals (“picking on a few”) Social norm to dislike someone  black sheep H5: Negative gossip in organizational networks is concentrated on a small number of objects (“scapegoats” or “black sheep”). Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Model Social status in the informal network Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Model Social status in the informal network Centrality in friendship network H4 H5 - Ostracism Negative gossip about an employee Ostracism Negative gossip about an employee + H3 H2 Shared group membership Formal work units in the organization - Solidarity Positive gossip about an employee + H1 Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Research Design Data collection in Spring 2008 Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Research Design Data collection in Spring 2008 One department in a medium-sized Dutch child care organization Population: mostly female social workers in part-time Flat hierarchy: one line-manager supervises all others Computer-assisted questionnaire Response rate = 83% N = 30 Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Measures Dependent variables Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Measures Dependent variables Gossip about colleagues (negative and positive) Independent variables Formal work groups Social status = in-eigenvector centrality in friendship network (UCINET VI) Controls Social relationships (valued network) Contact frequency (valued network) Job satisfaction (attribute) Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Peer-rated gossip about colleagues Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Peer-rated gossip about colleagues object “Alter gossiped about object” Reduced biases of social desirability and self-serving attribution Reduced impact of non-response cf. research on bullying ego (informant) alter Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Method of Analysis Exponential Random Graph Modeling (ERGM), also called p* model Statistical package: SIENA-p* in STOCNET Two models: Negative/mixed gossip network Positive gossip only network  overlap was eliminated Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Negative Gossip – Scapegoating Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Negative Gossip – Scapegoating Circle sizes represent social status (in-eigenvector friendships) Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Positive Gossip – broadly distributed Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Positive Gossip – broadly distributed Circle sizes represent social status (in-eigenvector friendships) Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

ERGM Results picking on the weak scape-goating Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip ERGM Results August, 2009 picking on the weak scape-goating Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)

Conclusion & Discussion August, 2009 Conclusion & Discussion Choice of gossip object driven by group solidarity and social status Social status affects positive and negative gossip differently  group picking scapegoats (bullying) Shared group membership leads to both positive and negative gossip  showing and reinforcing solidarity within groups (social control)  inderdependence creates any type of gossip

Conclusion & Discussion August, 2009 Conclusion & Discussion Limitations Context specific findings Cross-sectional design Future research Elaborate on outcomes of gossip: Ostracism and integration of individuals over time (structural holes vs. closure)

Thank you for listening! …Questions or comments? Talking About the Boss: A Social Network Approach to Organizational Gossip August, 2009 Thank you for listening! …Questions or comments? Lea Ellwardt (email: l.ellwardt@rug.nl)