Zeng Hao, Zhao Lijing, Li Jinsheng
School of Economic and Management, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, China.
School of Management, Hainan University, Haikou, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Sep 29;13:981539. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.981539. eCollection 2022.
Previous studies on negative workplace gossip have neglected the role of gossip targets of supervisors. The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of how subordinates' negative workplace gossip affects supervisors' work-related behaviors. Drawing upon conservation of resource theory, the authors propose that subordinates' negative gossip leads to supervisor emotional exhaustion. In turn, such emotional exhaustion provokes supervisors to exhibit undermining toward their subordinates. Additionally, the authors propose that a trait factor, namely, supervisor mindfulness, mitigates the relationship between such negative workplace gossip and supervisors' emotional exhaustion.
Data were collected from employees (e.g., subordinates) and their immediate supervisors in 35 organizations located in Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces in China. The data were obtained at three time points, each time interval was 2 weeks, and finally, 362 valid data points were obtained.
The following findings were obtained: (1) perceived subordinates' negative gossip has a significant positive effect on supervisor undermining; (2) supervisor emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between perceived subordinates' negative gossip and supervisor undermining; and (3) supervisor mindfulness moderates the relationship between perceived subordinates' negative gossip and supervisor emotional exhaustion and moderates the mediating effect of supervisor emotional exhaustion on the relationship between perceived subordinates' negative gossip and supervisor undermining.
Using multisource data and a moderated mediation model, we found that subordinates' negative workplace gossip predicts supervisor undermining through supervisor emotional exhaustion. We also discovered that supervisor mindfulness can buffer the positive relationship between perceived subordinates' negative workplace gossip and supervisor undermining. These findings have important implications for the literature on negative gossip in the workforce, especially the impact of subordinates' negative workplace gossip on supervisors' responses.
以往关于职场负面八卦的研究忽视了主管作为八卦对象的作用。本文旨在加深我们对下属的职场负面八卦如何影响主管工作相关行为的理解。基于资源守恒理论，作者提出下属的负面八卦会导致主管情绪耗竭。反过来，这种情绪耗竭会促使主管对下属表现出破坏行为。此外，作者还提出一个特质因素，即主管正念，会缓和这种职场负面八卦与主管情绪耗竭之间的关系。
数据收集自中国江苏和安徽两省35个组织中的员工（如下属）及其直属主管。数据在三个时间点获取，每个时间间隔为2周，最终获得362个有效数据点。
得到以下研究结果：（1）感知到的下属负面八卦对主管破坏行为有显著的正向影响；（2）主管情绪耗竭在感知到的下属负面八卦与主管破坏行为之间起中介作用；（3）主管正念调节感知到的下属负面八卦与主管情绪耗竭之间的关系，并调节主管情绪耗竭在感知到的下属负面八卦与主管破坏行为之间的中介作用。
通过使用多源数据和一个有调节的中介模型，我们发现下属的职场负面八卦通过主管情绪耗竭来预测主管破坏行为。我们还发现主管正念可以缓冲感知到的下属职场负面八卦与主管破坏行为之间的正向关系。这些发现对劳动力中负面八卦的文献具有重要意义，特别是下属的职场负面八卦对主管反应的影响。
