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More Than Idle Talk: Examining The Effects Of Positive And Negative Team Gossip, Trevor Spoelma, Andrea Hetrick

Faculty and Staff Publications

Gossip is a behavior that has been traditionally viewed as harmful in organizations. However, a more balanced perspective has emerged in recent years that suggests gossip can have important benefits. We propose that one way to uncover potential benefits of gossip in teams is to focus on the valence (positive or negative nature) of the gossip. Drawing on expectancy theory, we propose team gossip indirectly influences team performance through social loafing because it plays a key role in shaping beliefs about effort in team contexts; effects determined by team gossip valence. We hypothesize that positive team gossip decreases social loafing, …