Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-023-09894-8

ORIGINAL PAPER

It is Tough to Detach from Gossip: The Impact of Perceived Negative

Workplace Gossip on Life Satisfaction
Jun Xie1 · Qihai Huang2 · Ming Yan3 · Yongyi Liang3

Accepted: 2 June 2023 / Published online: 13 June 2023

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract
Gossip is ubiquitous in organizations and human life. Previous research has examined the detrimental effects of negative
workplace gossip on employees’ work-related outcomes. However, less attention has been devoted to how and when perceived
negative workplace gossip affects the general well-being of targeted employees. Drawing on the social-evaluative threat
literature and the stressor-detachment model, this study examines the effect of perceived negative workplace gossip on life
satisfaction by investigating the mediating role of psychological detachment and the moderating role of family-supportive
supervisor behaviors (FSSB). The results, based on a three-wave cross-lagged panel design survey, indicate that perceived
negative workplace gossip is negatively related to psychological detachment, and perceived negative workplace gossip has
an indirect effect on target employees’ life satisfaction through psychological detachment. Furthermore, FSSB negatively
moderates the relationship between perceived negative workplace gossip and psychological detachment and the indirect
effect of perceived negative workplace gossip on life satisfaction through psychological detachment. Understanding the
implications of perceived negative workplace gossip and its underlying mechanisms can help organizations and employees
effectively cope with this social-evaluative stressor.

Keywords Perceived negative workplace gossip · Social-evaluative threat · Life satisfaction · Psychological detachment ·
Family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) · Additional supplementary materials may be found here by searching on
article title https://osf.io/collections/jbp/discover

Gossip is intrinsic to organizational life (Noon & Delbridge,
1993). A recent survey showed that, on average, and across
different workplaces, American white-collar workers spend
40 min per week gossiping about coworkers (Vitukevich,
2019). Perceived negative workplace gossip refers to the
extent to which employees perceive themselves as targets of
informal and negative evaluative discussions when they are
absent from the workplace (Brady et al., 2017; Kurland &
Pelled, 2000). Because negative workplace gossip is often
disseminated in the absence of a target, it is difficult for the
target to identify its source or prevent its spread (Foster,
* Yongyi Liang
yongyi_liang@foxmail.com; liangyy@jnu.edu.cn
1
School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies, Guangzhou, China
2
Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield,
Huddersfield, UK
3
School of Management, Jinan University, 601 West Huangpu
Avenue, Guangzhou 510632, China
2004; Kurland & Pelled, 2000). However, negative gossip is
likely to be widespread in the workplace and can cause work
stress for targeted employees (Babalola et al., 2019; Liu
et al., 2020). Consequently, perceived negative workplace
gossip has detrimental effects on the work-related outcomes
of target employees, such as perceived exclusion (Marti-
nescu et al., 2021), negative mood (Babalola et al., 2019),
emotional exhaustion (Liu et al., 2020), and decreased pro-
active behaviors (Wu et al., 2018).
Despite significant progress, few studies have exam-
ined how perceived negative workplace gossip impacts
the general well-being of targeted employees in both
work and non-work domains. Such an omission is sur-
prising, given that workplace stressors—such as negative
workplace gossip—may affect work and non-work life,
as suggested by workplace gossip literature (e.g., Dores
Cruz et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2023) and work-life interven-
tion literature (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Powell et al.,
2019). A lack of understanding of the adverse effects of
perceived negative workplace gossip on general well-being

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can prevent effective interventions to buffer these harmful
effects. To address the oversight in the literature, this study
examines how and when perceived negative workplace
gossip is related to targeted employees’ life satisfaction.
Life satisfaction, defined as the evaluative perception of
one’s satisfaction with one’s life (Diener et al., 1985), is “a
holistic, general indicator of well-being, rather than more
narrowly defined markers” (Goh et al., 2015, p. 66). It has
typically been seen as a better indicator of psychological
health and subjective well-being than any single domain-
specific well-being measure (e.g., Erdogan et al., 2012;
Wolfram & Gratton, 2014). Knowledge of how and when
negative workplace gossip relates to life satisfaction can
guide targeted employees and organizations in how to cope
with negative workplace gossip effectively.
To understand the underlying mechanisms linking per-
ceived negative workplace gossip and life satisfaction
together with potential boundary conditions, we integrated
the social-evaluative threat literature (Dickerson & Kemeny,
2004) and the stressor-detachment model (Sonnentag &
Fritz, 2015) as our main theoretical framework. Social-
evaluative threats occur when “an aspect of the self (e.g.,
trait, ability) is or could be negatively judged by others”
(Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004, p. 361). Negative workplace
gossip, largely about a target employee’s work-related and
non-work-related bad behaviors, characteristics, or poor per-
formance (Dores Cruz et al., 2021), tends to create a nega-
tive impression or judgment of the target in other people’s
minds (Shani & Westphal, 2016), thereby damaging the
target’s reputation and social standing (Sun et al., 2023).
Therefore, when perceived as being targeted by negative
workplace gossip, the targeted employee suffers the stress
of a social-evaluative threat—a threat to the fundamental
goal of maintaining the social self—eliciting a set of cogni-
tive and emotional reactions (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004;
Dickerson, 2008).
According to Sonnentag and Fritz (2015), workplace
stressors often hinder psychological detachment from work
during non-work times and are negatively related to indi-
vidual well-being. Psychological detachment refers to one’s
mental and emotional disengagement from work when
away from the workplace (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007). By
integrating the social-evaluative threat literature (Dicker-
son & Kemeny, 2004) with the stressor-detachment model
(Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015), we suggest that the targeted
employees would persistently experience social-evaluative
threats, resulting in negative cognitive and affective states,
and detachment failure, when facing negative workplace
gossip. The difficulties of psychological detachment from
work may engender strain reactions (e.g., sleep problems
and hostility (Ng & Wang, 2019)) and impaired individual
general well-being (e.g., life satisfaction (Fritz et al., 2010;
Schulz et al., 2021)). Therefore, we propose that perceived
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Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
negative workplace gossip indirectly affects life satisfaction
through psychological detachment.
The stressor-detachment model argues that the negative
influences of workplace stressors can be mitigated when
social support is available (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015; Son-
nentag et al., 2017). We examined family-supportive super-
visor behaviors (FSSB)—defined as employees’ perceptions
of supervisors’ behavioral support for integrating work and
family (Hammer et al., 2006)—as a potential mitigating fac-
tor for the effect of perceived negative workplace gossip on
psychological detachment and the indirect effect of nega-
tive workplace gossip on life satisfaction via psychological
detachment.
Our focus on the FSSB as the boundary condition was
driven by two theoretical reasons. On the one hand, an exami-
nation of FSSB as a contextual contingency could provide
unique insights into when perceived negative workplace gos-
sip may impact both work and non-work life satisfaction.
Different from general supervisor support, which focuses
solely on supervisors’ work-related support for the employ-
ees (Kossek et al., 2011), FSSB pertains to supervisors’ sup-
port for employees across the two interrelated domains of
work and family (Hammer et al., 2009; Hammer et al., 2011).
Indeed, the FSSB has been demonstrated to be a better pre-
dictor with more validity than general supervisor support for
work-family-related outcomes (Hammer et al., 2009).
On the other hand, drawing upon the social-evaluative
threat literature and stressor-detachment model, FSSB may
depress or prevent the social-evaluative stress appraisal
response and alleviate the negative activation caused by
negative workplace gossip. Supervisors who display FSSB
indicate to employees that the organization cares for their
well-being, thus improving employees’ overall evaluations
of the work environment (Hammer et al., 2009; Hammer
et al., 2011). This enhances the target employees’ sense of
esteem, status, and acceptance (Kossek et al., 2011; Rofca-
nin et al., 2020), thereby depressing or preventing social-
evaluative threats. Furthermore, when faced with negative
workplace gossip, FSSB fulfills the target employees’ need
to replenish resources across work and family (Yragui et al.,
2017), thereby alleviating the negative activation caused by
such a social-evaluative stressor. Taken together, we propose
that targeted employees with a high level of FSSB are more
likely to cope with negative workplace gossip and achieve
psychological detachment and, consequently, a better degree
of life satisfaction. Figure 1 illustrates this conceptual model.
This study contributes to the existing literature in sev-
eral ways. First, we sought to expand the workplace gos-
sip research by linking perceived negative workplace gos-
sip with employees’ general well-being indicators in terms
of life satisfaction. While previous studies have shown the
harmful effects of perceived negative workplace gossip
on work-related outcomes (e.g., Babalola et al., 2019; Wu
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
Fig. 1  Conceptual model
Family supportive
supervisor behaviors
Perceived negative
workplace gossip
et al., 2018), we do not yet understand the impact of negative
workplace gossip on general well-being. Our work provides
initial evidence concerning the relationship between nega-
tive workplace gossip and life satisfaction, thus extending
the nomological network of negative workplace gossip and
providing a more comprehensive understanding of this con-
struct (Dores Cruz et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2023). This effort
also responds to the literature’s urgent call for more research
to understand the possible link between negative workplace
gossip and general well-being (Martinescu et al., 2019).
Second, we contribute to the workplace gossip literature
by uncovering how perceived negative workplace gossip
affects life satisfaction, building on the social-evaluative
threat literature and the stressor-detachment model. In
addressing this question, our research offers a novel per-
spective in unpacking a new mechanism, namely, psycho-
logical detachment, through which negative workplace gos-
sip influences employees’ life satisfaction. In doing so, we
delineate the process of perceived negative workplace gossip
about employees’ general well-being and provide insight for
researchers and practitioners into potential interventions to
mitigate this process via psychological detachment.
Third, our research contributes to the workplace gossip
literature by exploring the moderating role of FSSB on the
effects of perceived negative workplace gossip on life satis-
faction via psychological detachment. This effort not only
shifts the current focus of boundary conditions in workplace
gossip literature from target employees’ personality traits
(e.g., Babalola et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2018) to supervisor
work-family support, but also identifies a new and potential
way to intervene in the harmful effects of negative work-
place gossip.
Finally, our investigation extends the stressor-detachment
model and enriches the recovery literature (Sonnentag et al.,
2017) by examining the effect of negative workplace gos-
sip as a social-evaluative stressor on psychological detach-
ment, identifying an important contextual factor—such
as FSSB—that can mitigate the impact. Past research has
long emphasized the critical roles of both work-related and
social stressors (e.g., violence and harassment) in employ-
ees’ recovery experiences (e.g., psychological detachment
from work) (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). However, to the best
499
Psychological
Life satisfaction
detachment
of our knowledge, few studies on recovery have focused on
social-evaluative stressors in the workplace as antecedents.
Meanwhile, although there is some evidence indicating the
moderating role of individual personality on the impact of
social-evaluative stressors on recovery (e.g., Gruenewald
et al., 2006), little attention has been devoted to examining
whether supervisors’ support for integrating work and family
buffers the relationship between social-evaluative stressors
and recovery. By including negative workplace gossip as
a meaningful work-related social-evaluative stressor and
examining the mitigating role of FSSB, we not only elabo-
rate on the nomological network of detachment, but also
advance the stress-detachment model and recovery research
(Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015; Sonnentag et al., 2017).
Theoretical Background and Development
of Hypotheses
Negative Workplace Gossip and Psychological
Detachment
Drawing on the social-evaluative threat literature (Dicker-
son & Kemeny, 2004) and the stressor-detachment model
(Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015), we propose that when employees
become targets of negative workplace gossip, they struggle
to psychologically detach from work. Workplace stressors
characterized by social-evaluative threats, in which individu-
als feel that others are negatively judging them, can trigger
negative activation—such as rumination and stress hormones
(Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004). Employees overwhelmed by
such negative activation often find it difficult to mentally dis-
engage from work even when they are physically out of the
office (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). Prior laboratory research
has suggested that stressors characterized by social-evalua-
tive threats result in greater cortisol changes, increased rumi-
nation, and delayed recovery (Zoccola et al., 2008; Zoccola
et al., 2012). Negative workplace gossip spreads negative
social evaluations and creates a negative impression of the
target, thereby attacking and threatening their reputation,
social standing, and perceived self-worth (Michelson et al.,
2010; Wu et al., 2018), representing the key characteristics
13
500
of a typical social-evaluative stressor (Dickerson & Kemeny,
2004). We explain two main reasons why being targeted by
negative workplace gossip as a social-evaluative stressor is
likely to result in difficulty in detachment.
First, repetitive thoughts and rumination about social-
evaluative stressors lead to a low level of psychological
detachment (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004; Sonnentag &
Fritz, 2015). Negative workplace gossip usually contains
both work-related and non-work-related matters (Dores
Cruz et al., 2021). For instance, employees may gossip
in the workplace about coworkers’ poor performance and
private life—such as issues of infidelity (Sun et al., 2023).
When employees perceive such negative evaluations, they
are likely to ruminate about gossip at home and repetitively
think about how to cope with it, such as by trying to identify
the source of the gossip; explaining the truth to supervisors,
coworkers, or family members; and trying to prevent the
spread of the gossip (e.g., Xie et al., 2019). Furthermore,
when employees perceive negative gossip against them, they
may become more sensitive and are more likely to feel that
their behavior is being monitored by colleagues (Tan et al.,
2021). The perception of being watched, in turn, results in
repetitive thoughts and rumination about, for example, the
appropriateness of workplace behavior at home. In the pro-
cess of rumination, psychophysiological activation occurs
(Hülsheger, 2016), blurring the target employee’s cognitive
boundaries between the domains of work and non-work and
contributing to a low level of psychological detachment.
Second, a high level of negative evaluative stress trig-
gered by being targeted by negative gossip may lead to
negative emotions and stress hormones such as anxiety
(Foster, 2004), emotional exhaustion (Liu et al., 2020), and
negative mood (Babalola et al., 2019), all of which result in
difficulties in psychological detachment. For example, the
target employee, trapped in negative evaluations from cow-
orkers and supervisors, tends to have no energy or inter-
est in performing physical exercise or engaging in social
activities. In other words, targeted employees troubled by
negative workplace gossip struggle to mentally detach from
work even after they leave the workplace (Ng & Wang,
2019). Furthermore, a recent meta-analysis showed that
negative work-related thoughts and feelings have a mod-
erate to strong negative relationship with psychological
detachment (Jimenez et al., 2022). Therefore, we propose
the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Perceived negative workplace gossip
will negatively predict psychological detachment.
Negative Workplace Gossip, Psychological
Detachment, and Life Satisfaction
Psychological detachment is a mental process that cre-
ates a state of mind by switching off job-related concerns
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Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
(Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). By creating a clear cognitive
boundary between work and non-work, which gives them a
mental break from work, employees can become more avail-
able for pleasant activities (Hahn & Dormann, 2013), replen-
ishing their energy and affective and cognitive resources
(Sonnentag et al., 2017), all of which are associated with
higher levels of life satisfaction. In other words, when the
target employees are not psychologically detached from
work—when their minds are still occupied by gossip-related
issues, for example—other domains (e.g., family, health, and
leisure) may not draw their attention. Consequently, they fail
to participate in activities, such as caring for family members
and playing sports, which are important components of a
satisfying life (Diener et al., 1999). It is also possible that
these employees do not derive the benefits of these activities
because they are engaged in them but are preoccupied with
stressful work-related thoughts, thereby decreasing their life
satisfaction.
Moreover, since psychological detachment difficulty, as
a resource-depleting experience, can thwart effective work
recovery (Sonnentag et al., 2017), employees are less likely
to engage in other opportunities and challenges in their lives.
Life satisfaction will be lower when they are unable to enjoy
meaningful activities and opportunities. Prior studies have
shown that employees’ life satisfaction is positively associated
with psychological detachment from both employees and their
partners (Davidson et al., 2010; Hahn & Dormann, 2013).
The theoretical logic we have presented to this point sug-
gests an indirect effect firmly enmeshed within the social-
evaluative threat literature and the stressor-detachment
model, which indicates that when faced with social-evalua-
tive stressors such as negative workplace gossip, the target
employees will find it difficult to maintain a clear mental
boundary between work and non-work (lower levels of psy-
chological detachment), thereby undermining their overall
satisfaction with their lives. Therefore, we hypothesize the
following:
Hypothesis 2: Perceived negative workplace gossip will
have an indirect effect on life satisfaction through psycho-
logical detachment.
The Moderating Role of Family‑Supportive
Supervisor Behaviors
The stressor-detachment model suggests that the adverse
effects of workplace stressors on subjective well-being
through psychological detachment are contingent on contex-
tual factors (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). We further propose
that the effect of perceived negative workplace gossip on
life satisfaction via psychological detachment depends on
the social support gained from the targeted employees. Spe-
cifically, FSSB serves as a useful resource to halt spirals of
resource loss and buffer the relationship between perceived
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
negative workplace gossip and psychological detachment.
As conceptualized by Hammer et al. (2006, 2009), supervi-
sors who display FSSB provide employees with different
forms of help and support. These include role modeling,
such as enjoying a balanced work-life for creative work-
family management (e.g., re-scheduling work in a way that
employees can keep their commitments at home), emotional
support such as expressing concern and care, and instrumen-
tal support by offering resources needed for employees to
manage work-family conflict. There are three reasons why
the relationship between perceived negative workplace gos-
sip and psychological detachment is likely to weaken when
FSSB is higher.
First, the display of FSSB signals to employees that
supervisors care about the needs and well-being of the target
employees and have goodwill to help them handle social-
evaluative stressors (e.g., negative workplace gossip), which
may cause work-family-related problems (e.g., Liu et al.,
2022). This can enhance the targeted employees’ sense of
esteem, status, and attachment to the organization (Kossek
et al., 2011; Rofcanin et al., 2020), alleviating the impact of
the social-evaluative threat. Thus, negative workplace gossip
is less likely to create gossip-related detachment difficulties
when targeted employees have high FSSB.
Second, employees with higher FSSB generally have
access to emotional and instrumental support in times of
need (Hammer et al., 2009). Supervisors high in FSSB
show concern for subordinates who experience work-family-
related challenges and provide employees with support to
address work-family problems. When targeted by negative
workplace gossip, employees with high FSSB are generally
better equipped to cope because they have access to more
resources provided by their supervisors to deal with social-
evaluative stressors, such as an outlet for emotional release
(Crain & Stevens, 2018) and time spent listening or explain-
ing. Accordingly, they should be less anxious and ruminate
after work and, thus, will have a higher level of detachment.
Third, targeted employees with higher FSSB are more
confident and have more ways to address issues caused by
the work-family interface (Hammer et al., 2011) and thus
are more likely to psychologically detach from work. This is
because their supervisors have provided examples of strate-
gies and behaviors that demonstrate how to manage work-
family-related problems (Hammer et al., 2009). Employ-
ees with confidence and problem-solving skills may have
an advantage in dealing with negative workplace gossip.
Accordingly, they should be able to set mental boundaries
between work and family when faced with negative work-
place gossip (Dores Cruz et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2023);
for example, they should divert themselves from repetitive
thoughts and rumination about negative workplace gossip to
other activities (e.g., caring for family members and relax-
ing), which engenders improved psychological detachment.
501
Hypothesis 3: FSSB will moderate the relationship
between perceived negative workplace gossip and psycho-
logical detachment, such that the negative relationship will
be weaker when FSSB is higher rather than lower.
Based on this argument, we propose that FSSB weakens
the indirect effect of psychological detachment on the asso-
ciation between perceived negative workplace gossip and
life satisfaction. Specifically, for targeted employees with
higher FSSB, the negative indirect effect of perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip on life satisfaction via psychological
detachment should be weaker. For targeted employees with
lower FSSB, the negative indirect effect of perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip on life satisfaction via psychological
detachment should be stronger. As such, we propose
Hypothesis 4: FSSB negatively moderates the indirect
effect of perceived negative workplace gossip on employee
life satisfaction via psychological detachment, such that the
conditional indirect effects are weaker when FSSB is higher
rather than lower.
Method
Participants and Procedure
We surveyed five large companies (one commercial bank,
one in green facilities, one clothing manufacturer, one real
estate agency, and one in insurance), of which, one is state-
owned, and four are privately owned companies in South
China. A total of 552 volunteers with valid e-mail addresses
were recruited for this study.
To reduce the risk of common method bias (Podsakoff
et al., 2003), we collected multi-wave data using a cross-
lagged design with a 2-week interval. We chose a 2-week
interval for the three-wave design because prior research
has suggested that a 2-week interval offers enough obser-
vations to capture the impact of perceived negative work-
place gossip on psychological or behavioral variables (e.g.,
Liu et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2021). Moreover, our use of the
2-week interval in the current study is consistent with extant
research on the antecedents of life satisfaction (e.g., Craig &
Kuykendall, 2019; Nielsen et al., 2020).
We used an online system for the surveys and sent e-mails
to the participants with links to the online questionnaires.
At time 1 (T1), the participants were invited to rate their
perceptions of negative workplace gossip, FSSB, life satis-
faction, and demographic information (such as age, gender,
education, organizational tenure, marital status, and number
of children). At time 2 (T2), participants evaluated their level
of psychological detachment. Finally, at time 3 (T3), partici-
pants were asked to evaluate perceived negative workplace
gossip, life satisfaction, and negative affect, which were used
as control variables.
13
502
At T1, 397 completed questionnaires were returned
(response rate: 71.92%). At T2, questionnaires were distrib-
uted to these same 397 employees, and 328 completed ques-
tionnaires were returned (response rate = 90.61%). Finally,
at T3, questionnaires were distributed to participants who
completed the questionnaires at T2, and 293 completed
questionnaires were returned (response rate: 89.33%). The
final sample consisted of 293 respondents (overall response
rate: 73.80%). Among the respondents, 42.00% were male,
85.70% were aged between 21 and 40 years old, 63.50%
had a college degree or above, 76.40% had been with the
organization for more than 1 year, 60.10% were married,
and 47.80% had at least one child.
We examined whether response attribution created any
detectable differences in the sample by conducting a mul-
tivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) as Lance et al.
(2000) recommend. The results show no statistically sig-
nificant differences between the group that completed all
three waves of surveys (n = 293) and the group that only
completed the T1 survey (n = 69) in terms of age, gender,
organizational tenure, marital status, number of children,
perceived negative workplace gossip (T1), and life satisfac-
tion (T1). Therefore, attrition bias was not apparent in this
study.
Measures
The questionnaires were translated from the original English
into Chinese. Two experts in the research field translated
the items using a double-blind translation-back-translation
procedure.
Perceived negative workplace gossip was measured using
the three-item scale developed by Wu et al. (2018). This
scale was developed by Chandra and Robinson (2009). Wu
et al. (2018) made minor adjustments to the item wording
of Chandra and Robinson’s (2009) scale to better reflect the
workplace context. A sample item is “In the past six months,
others (e.g., coworkers and/or supervisors) communicated
damaging information about me in the workplace” (1 =
never, 5 = always; αT1 = 0.89, αT3 = 0.97).
Psychological detachment was assessed using a 4-item
measure from Sonnentag and Fritz (2007). A sample item
is “After working hours, I distance myself from my work”
(1 = never, 5 = always; αT2 = 0.83).
Life satisfaction was assessed using a five-item scale
developed by Diener et al. (1985). A sample item is “I am
satisfied with my life” (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly
agree; αT1 = 0.86, αT3 = 0.89).
FSSB was assessed using the 14-item scale developed by
Hammer et al. (2009). An example item is, “My supervisor
takes the time to learn about my personal needs” (1 = strongly
disagree, 5 = strongly agree; αT1 = 0.97).
13
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
We controlled for several demographic variables (i.e., age,
gender, education level, organizational tenure, marital status,
and parental status) that potentially influence employee life
satisfaction, as prior literature has shown (e.g., Goh et al.,
2015; Wolfram & Gratton, 2014). Moreover, we controlled for
employees’ negative affect, which may influence their life sat-
isfaction (Erdogan et al., 2012). We used Watson et al.’s (1988)
scale to measure the negative effect (1 = never, 5 = always; αT3
= 0.97). Finally, because our data came from five companies,
we used four dummy variables as statistical controls.
Analytical Strategy
Because the single-source data may pose challenges in
establishing causal associations among the studied vari-
ables, a cross-lagged panel design was used to provide
directional evidence of the effect of perceived negative
workplace gossip on life satisfaction through psychologi-
cal detachment (e.g., Bai et al., 2020; Zyphur et al., 2020).
First, we examined the measurement invariance for per-
ceived negative workplace gossip and life satisfaction
across time, which is a precondition for conducting a cross-
lagged analysis. Second, we examined the hypothesized and
reversed path models simultaneously. Specifically, our path
model specified both the indirect effect of perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip (T1) on life satisfaction (T3) through
psychological detachment (T2) and the reversed indirect
effect of life satisfaction (T1) on perceived negative work-
place gossip (T3) through psychological detachment (T2).
Stability effects (i.e., the effects of life satisfaction (T3) on
life satisfaction (T1) and the effects of perceived negative
workplace gossip (T3) on perceived negative workplace
gossip (T1)) were also specified. The studied variables
assessed simultaneously were allowed to be correlated
(i.e., perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) correlated
with life satisfaction (T1); perceived negative workplace
gossip (T3) correlated with life satisfaction (T3)). In addi-
tion, a moderating effect was considered in this path model
to comprehensively test our hypotheses. We estimated the
significance of indirect and conditional indirect effects with
Mplus 7.11, using parameter-based bootstrapping with 5000
repetitions (Edwards & Lambert, 2007).
Results
Measurement Model Assessment
We tested for possible common method bias following the
procedure recommended by Lindell and Whitney (2001). We
used an item that was theoretically unrelated to our four key
variables (i.e., when I want something, I usually go all-out
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511 503

to get it) as a marker variable. The results show that the self-
reported marker variable was not significantly related to any
of the variables in our model. Furthermore, the significance
of the correlations among the four key variables remained
the same after partial correlation adjustment. Thus, we con-
clude that common method bias was unlikely to be an issue
in this study.
A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were
conducted so as to establish the discrimination of key vari-
ables. As shown in Table 1, the results suggested that the
four-factor model including perceived negative workplace
gossip (T1), FSSB (T1), psychological detachment (T2), and
life satisfaction (T3) yielded a better fit (χ2 [98] = 203.81;
CFI = 0.97; SRMR = 0.05) than the other models. These
analyses confirmed that perceived negative workplace gossip
(T1), FSSB (T1), psychological detachment (T2), and life
satisfaction (T3) were empirically distinct.
The invariance of perceived negative workplace gossip
and life satisfaction across T1 and T3 were also examined.
As presented in Table 1, the configural invariance models
that specified the same factor structure across the time
periods, along with the metric invariance models that
specified the factor structure and factor loadings as equal
across the time of both variables, were a satisfactory fit.
Moreover, these two types of invariance models of per-
ceived negative workplace gossip and life satisfaction did
not demonstrate significant differences in the model fit
indices (i.e., ΔCFI < 0.01 and ΔSRMR < 0.03). These
results support the conclusion that there was no measure-
ment variance in perceived negative workplace gossip and
life satisfaction across time.
Descriptive Statistics
The means, standard deviations, bivariate correlations, and
reliabilities of all key variables are reported in Table 2. As
we expected, perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) was
negatively and significantly related to psychological detach-
ment (T2) (r = −0.12, p < 0.05), and psychological detach-
ment (T2) was positively and significantly associated with
life satisfaction (T3) (r = 0.14, p < 0.05); life satisfaction
(T1) was not significantly related to psychological detach-
ment (T2) (r = 0.02, p > 0.05) nor was psychological detach-
ment (T2) significantly related to perceived negative work-
place gossip (T3) (r = −0.03, p > 0.05). Perceived negative
workplace gossip (T1) was not significantly related to life
satisfaction (T3) (r = 0.04, p > 0.05) nor was life satisfaction
(T1) significantly related to perceived negative workplace
gossip (T3) (r = −0.05, p > 0.05).
Hypothesis Testing
Hypothesis 1 suggests that perceived negative workplace
gossip would negatively predict psychological detachment.
As shown in Table 3, perceived negative workplace gossip
(T1) was negatively related to psychological detachment
(T2) (β = −0.14, SE = 0.06, p < 0.05). Thus, hypothesis 1
is supported.
Hypothesis 2 predicts that perceived negative workplace
gossip indirectly affects life satisfaction through psycholog-
ical detachment. Following MacKinnon et al. (2000) and
Muller et al.’s (2005) recommendation, this effect was esti-
mated after controlling for the direct effect of the perceived

Table 1  Results of confirmatory Construct/model χ2 df χ2/df Δχ2 CFI SRMR

factor analyses and
measurement ­invariancea Confirmatory factor analyses
Four factor model (NWG, PD, LS, FSSB) 203.81 98 2.08 .97 .05
Three factor model (NWG+PD, LS, FSSB) 645.80 101 6.39 441.99 .84 .13
Three factor model (NWG, PD+LS, FSSB) 985.77 101 9.76 781.96 .74 .16
Three factor model (NWG+FSSB, PD, LS) 1658.45 101 16.42 1454.64 .55 .17
Two factor model (NWG+FSSB, PD+LS) 2433.63 103 23.63 2229.82 .32 .22
One factor model (NWG+FSSB+PD+LS) 2895.44 104 27.84 2249.64 .19 .26
Measurement invariance across T1 and T3
Perceived negative workplace gossip
  Configural invariance 9.41 5 1.88 .99 .03
  Metric invariance 8.74 7 1.25 .99 .02
Life satisfaction
  Configural invariance 66.37 29 2.29 .98 .04
  Metric invariance 70.19 33 2.13 .98 .05

“+” = combing factors

T1 time 1, T3 time 3, NWG perceived negative workplace gossip (T1), PD psychological detachment (T2),
LS life satisfaction (T3), FSSB family-supportive supervisor behaviors (T1)
a
n=293

13
 504

13
Table 2  Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and reliabilities a
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

1. ­Agea 2.73 0.73

2. ­Gendera 1.58 0.49 −.05
3. ­Educationa 2.04 0.91 −.07 .07
4. Work ­tenurea 2.52 1.22 .44** −.03 .20**
5. ­Maritala 1.40 0.49 −.56** .02 −.00 −.41**
6. ­Parentala 1.52 0.50 −.41** .05 .03 −.31** .71**
7. ­CD1a 0.37 0.48 .00 .23** −.34** −.09 .08 .07
8. ­CD2a 0.17 0.38 .04 .15** .46** .11 −.12* −.12* −.35**
9. ­CD3a 0.15 0.36 .16** −.27** −.09 .04 −.14* −.10 −.32** −.20**
10. ­CD4a 0.16 0.36 −.15* −.18** −.35** −.24** .18** .11 −.33** −.20** −.18**
11. NA (T3)a 3.70 1.31 −.17** .07 .14* −.04 .06 .03 −.18** .13* −.16** .13* (.97)
12. NWG (T1)a 1.55 0.62 .17** −.10 −.08 .15* −.11 −.10 −.03 −.09 .10 .02 .10 (.89)
13. LS (T1)a 2.95 0.80 .09 .09 .03 −.05 −.08 −.03 −.04 .17** −.03 −.01 −.07 −.11 (.86)
14. FSSB (T1)a 3.88 0.76 .09 −.08 −.13* −.05 −.06 −.06 −.05 .04 .11 .20** −.13* −.23** .33** (.97)
15. PD (T2)a 2.58 0.65 −.11 .10 .01 −.02 .10 .09 .08 −.01 .00 −.16** −.24** −.12* .02 −.17** (.83)
16. NWG (T3)a 1.81 0.82 −.06 −.18** −.06 −.02 .07 .03 .01 −.04 −.05 .10 .26** .40** −.05 −.16** −.03 (.97)
17. LS (T3)a 2.93 0.76 .07 .07 .16** .03 −.11 −.05 −.12* .15* −.05 .03 .01 .04 .56** .09 .14* .07 (.89)

Coefficient alphas are reported in parentheses. For age: 1= below 20, 2 = between 21 and 30, 3 = between 31 and 40, 4 = between 41 and 50, 5 = above 50. For gender: 1 = male, 2 = female.
For education: 1 = high school, 2 = vocational school, 3 = undergraduate degree (bachelor’s), 4 = postgraduate degree (master’s and doctorate). For work tenure: 1 = less than 1 year, 2 =
between 1 and 3 years, 3 = between 3 and 5 years, 4 = between 5 and 10 years, 5 = between 10 and 15 years, 6 = more than 15 years. For marital: 1 = married, 2 = single. For parental: 1 =
with dependents under 18 years old, 2 = without dependents under 18 years old
CD 1/2/3/4 dummy variable for 5 companies, NA negative affect, NWG perceived negative workplace gossip, LS life satisfaction, FSSB family-supportive supervisor behaviors, PD psychologi-
cal detachment, T1 time 1, T2 time 2, T3 time 3
*p < .05, **p < .01 (two-tailed tests)
a
n=293
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511 505

negative workplace gossip (T1) on life satisfaction (T3).
As shown in Table 3, psychological detachment (T2) was
positively related to life satisfaction (T3) (β = 0.22, SE =
0.07, p < 0.01). We used path analysis with bootstrapped,
bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals to further test the
indirect effects. The indirect effects of perceived negative
workplace gossip (T1) on life satisfaction (T3) through psy-
chological detachment (indirect effect = −0.03, SE =0.02,
95% CI = [−0.07, −0.01]) were negative and significant.
Therefore, hypothesis 2 is supported.
We also examined reversed directional associations. As
shown in Table 3, life satisfaction (T1) was not significantly
associated with psychological detachment (T2) (β = 0.07,
SE = 0.05, ns) nor was psychological detachment (T2) sig-
nificantly related to perceived negative workplace gossip
(T3) (β = 0.12, SE = 0.08, ns) after controlling for the direct
effect of life satisfaction (T1) on perceived negative work-
place gossip (T3). Therefore, the reversed indirect effect was
between perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) and psy-
chological detachment (T2) at higher (+ 1 SD) and lower
(− 1 SD) values of FSSB (T1). As shown in Fig. 2, the
negative relationship between perceived negative workplace
gossip (T1) and psychological detachment (T2) was weaker
when FSSB (T1) was higher (rather than lower), supporting
hypothesis 3.
Hypothesis 4 predicts that FSSB would negatively mod-
erate the indirect effects of perceived negative workplace
gossip on employees’ life satisfaction via psychological
detachment. The results of the conditional indirect effects
model showed that FSSB (T1) moderated the indirect effect
of perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) on life satisfac-
tion (T3) through psychological detachment (T2) (moderated
5
4.5

Psychological detachment
not significant, suggesting that psychological detachment did 4
not mediate the reversed relationship between life satisfac- Lower FSSB
tion and perceived negative workplace gossip. These results 3.5
Higher FSSB
strengthened and validated our hypothesis that perceived 3
negative workplace gossip affects life satisfaction through
psychological detachment. 2.5

Hypothesis 3 predicts that FSSB moderates the rela- 2

tionship between perceived negative workplace gossip and Lower NWG Higher NWG

psychological detachment. As shown in Table 3, perceived

negative workplace gossip (T1) and FSSB (T1) interacted to Fig. 2  Moderating effect of FSSB on the relationship between per-
ceived negative workplace gossip and psychological detachment.
predict psychological detachment (T2) (β = 0.17, SE = 0.08, Note: NWG, perceived negative workplace gossip; FSSB, family-sup-
p < 0.05). We plotted the simple slopes of the relationship portive supervisor behaviors

­ odelsa
Table 3  Regression results for moderated mediation path m
Predictors Psychological detachment Life satisfaction (T3) Perceived negative
(T2) workplace gossip
(T3)

Life satisfaction (T1) .07(.05) .53**(.05) .04(.06)

Independent variable
Perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) −.14*(.06) .15**(.06) .52**(.05)
Mediator
Psychological detachment (T2) .22**(.07) .12(.08)
Moderator
Family-supportive supervisor behaviors (T1) −.20**(.05)
Perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) * family- .17*(.08)
supportive supervisor behaviors (T1)

Unstandardized coefficients are reported, and standard errors are given in parentheses. For ease of readability, the coefficients of the paths from
the control variables (i.e., age, gender, education, organizational tenure, marital status, number of children, negative affect, and four dummy
variables of company membership) are not included in the table. Among the control variable, education was positively related to life satisfaction
(T3) (B = .18, SE = .05, p < .01); gender (male =1; female = 2) was negatively related to perceived negative workplace gossip (T3) (B = −.33,
SE = .10, p < .01), and negative effect was positively related to perceived negative workplace gossip (T3) (B = .16, SE = .04, p < .01)
T1 time 1, T2 time 2, T3 time 3
*p < .05, **p < .01 (two-tailed tests)
a
n=293

13
506
mediation index = 0.04, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.09]). In par-
ticular, the indirect effect was significant when FSSB (T1)
was lower (conditional indirect effect = −0.06, SE = 0.03,
95% CI = [−0.12, −0.02]), while the indirect effect was not
significant when FSSB (T1) was higher (conditional indirect
effect = −0.01, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [−0.04, 0.04]). Hence,
hypothesis 4 is supported.
Supplementary Analyses
We followed the recommendations of Becker et al. (2016)
to retest the research hypotheses without the control vari-
ables. The results were essentially identical when the con-
trol variables were excluded. Perceived negative workplace
gossip (T1) was negatively associated with psychological
detachment (T2) (β = −0.14, SE = 0.06, p < 0.05), and
psychological detachment (T2) was positively associated
with life satisfaction (T3) (β = 0.17, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01).
The indirect effects of perceived negative workplace gossip
(T1) on life satisfaction (T3) through psychological detach-
ment (T2) (indirect effect = −0.02, SE = 0.01, 95% CI =
[−0.06, −0.01]) are negative and significant. For the reverse
model, life satisfaction (T1) was not significantly related to
psychological detachment (T2) (β = 0.07, SE =0.05, ns) nor
is psychological detachment (T2) significantly related to per-
ceived negative workplace gossip (T3) (β = 0.03, SE = 0.08,
ns). In terms of moderating effects, the interaction between
perceived negative workplace gossip (T1) and FSSB is posi-
tively related to psychological detachment (T2) (β = 0.17,
SE = 0.08, p < 0.05). Furthermore, FSSB (T1) significantly
moderated the indirect effect that perceived negative work-
place gossip (T1) had on life satisfaction (T3) through psy-
chological detachment (T2) (moderated mediation index =
0.03, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.07]). The indirect effect
is significant when FSSB (T1) is lower (conditional indi-
rect effect = −0.05, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [−0.10, −0.01]),
whereas the indirect effect is not significant when FSSB (T1)
is higher (conditional indirect effect = −0.02, SE = 0.02,
95% CI = [−0.04, 0.03]).
Discussion
Drawing upon the social-evaluative threat literature and the
stressor-detachment model, we aim to provide insights into
how and when perceived negative workplace gossip might
affect targeted employees’ life satisfaction. Our analysis,
based on a three-wave cross-lagged panel design survey,
shows that perceived negative workplace gossip is nega-
tively related to psychological detachment and that perceived
negative workplace gossip will have an indirect effect on life
satisfaction via psychological detachment. Furthermore, the
relationship between perceived negative workplace gossip
13
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
and psychological detachment and the indirect effect of
psychological detachment on perceived negative workplace
gossip and life satisfaction is negatively moderated by FSSB.
Specifically, the indirect effect is negative and significant for
targeted employees with lower FSSB, whereas the indirect
effect is not significant when the targeted employees have
higher FSSB. Our study offers several important theoretical
and practical implications.
Theoretical Implications
First, our findings contribute to the literature on negative
workplace gossip by extending the focus of work-related
outcomes to employees’ general well-being. Negative
workplace gossip is a relatively new and unique construct
in the broad deviance-related domain (Brady et al., 2017;
Sun et al., 2023). The spread of negative workplace gos-
sip not only influences the target’s behavioral outcomes at
work but also invades off-job life and impacts their over-
all cognitive evaluations of lives. Research only examining
the work-related outcomes of negative workplace gossip
may not provide a complete understanding of the targeted
employees’ experiences because the influence of negative
workplace gossip may go beyond the workplace (Dores Cruz
et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2023). Our research takes the first
step toward examining the general implications of nega-
tive workplace gossip, thereby extending the nomological
network of this new construct. Our findings underscore
the importance of studying the life satisfaction of targeted
employees. Moreover, our findings echo Erdogan et al.’s
(2012) conclusion that work-related stressors can result in
employees’ experiences of stress in non-work domains and,
consequently, have a negative effect on their life satisfaction.
Second, our focus on the mediating role of psychologi-
cal detachment provides novel insights into how negative
workplace gossip affects employees’ general well-being.
Prior research has mainly drawn on self-consistency theory
(e.g., Wu et al., 2018) and the conservation of resources
(COR) theory (e.g., Liu et al., 2020), which are useful in
explaining the detrimental impacts of negative workplace
gossip on work-related outcomes. For example, research
on self-consistency theory argues that the perception of
other organizational members’ negative views is harmful
to employees’ organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and
consequently decreases their proactive behavior (Wu et al.,
2018). However, the self-consistency theory focuses on
work-related attitudes and behaviors, in which OBSE sim-
ply represents one’s self-evaluation of self-esteem within
the organization (Ferris et al., 2009). Following this logic,
the effects of OBSE may not be transferred from work to life
(Kwan et al., 2020). Similarly, research building on COR
theory posits that being the target of negative workplace gos-
sip depletes personal resources and leads to psychological
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
distress. Employees who suffer from depletion have fewer
resources necessary for proactive behavior in the workplace
(Liu et al., 2020).
By complementing and enriching this resource perspec-
tive, our study provides a new theoretical angle (i.e., the
stressor-detachment model) to understand the effect of neg-
ative workplace gossip on life satisfaction. Moreover, our
findings are in line with those of a previous meta-analysis
that shows that continued cognitive and emotional activation
resulting from off-job work-related thoughts might be harm-
ful to employees’ general well-being (Jimenez et al., 2022).
Third, our findings on the moderating role of FSSB enrich
our understanding of the contextual factors that can mitigate
the harmful effects of perceived negative workplace gossip,
responding to calls for greater attention to the important role
of supervisor support in workplace gossip research (e.g., Xie
et al., 2019). This finding is consistent with Yragui et al.
(2017), which suggests that FSSB alleviates the negative
impact of coworker psychological aggression on physical
symptoms and turnover intentions. Our findings provide
evidence to support Sonnentag and Fritz’s (2015) assertion
that workplace stressors may not impair employees’ psycho-
logical detachment when interpersonal support resources at
work or home are high.
More importantly, we shift the current focus of bound-
ary conditions in workplace gossip literature from target-
ing employees’ personality traits (Babalola et al., 2019; Liu
et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2018) to supervisor support, lend-
ing support to the notion that interpersonal support plays
an important role in alleviating victimization (Aquino &
Thau, 2009). FSSB captures an interpersonal support factor
signaling that supervisors care for and support employees’
family roles and try to help employees balance work and
non-work (Hammer et al., 2009). Therefore, the findings
provide insight into what can effectively intervene in the
ill effects of negative gossip on life satisfaction—namely,
building supervisory resources for FSSB to support employ-
ees’ successful work-life management.
Fourth, by including negative workplace gossip as a
meaningful social-evaluative stressor and antecedent of
psychological detachment, and examining the buffering
role of FSSB, we extend the stressor-detachment model
and enrich the recovery literature (Sonnentag & Fritz,
2015; Sonnentag et al., 2017). Although previous stud-
ies have shed light on the associations between various
workplace stressors and recovery, their focus has been
limited to role stressors (e.g., role overload and role
ambiguity), task-related stressors (e.g., time pressure and
work complexity), and social stressors (e.g., harassment
and violence) in employees’ recovery experiences (Son-
nentag & Fritz, 2015). Little is known about the impact
had by social-evaluative stressors on recovery. To our
knowledge, this research is the first study on an important
507
social-evaluative stressor—negative workplace gossip—by
which employees can experience social-evaluative threats
and difficulty in psychological detachment. This aligns
with the findings of Zoccola et al. (2008), which show
that increases in cortisol would be larger, and the time
needed for recovery would be longer for those who had
high levels of post-task rumination than for those who
had fewer negative thoughts after troubled by a social-
evaluative stressor. Thus, our study expands the stressor-
detachment model by including negative workplace gossip
as a social-evaluative stressor and meaningful antecedent
of psychological detachment.
Moreover, our findings highlight the importance of FSSB
in alleviating the detrimental effects of social-evaluative
stressors and negative workplace gossip on life satisfaction
through psychological detachment. Although the extant litera-
ture has examined the moderating role of personality factors
and individual differences in the relationships between social-
evaluative stressors and recovery (Dickerson & Kemeny,
2004; Dickerson, 2008), few studies have explored the impor-
tant role of supervisor support. Thus, our findings provide
evidence of the importance of supervisors’ work-family sup-
port when studying the adverse effects of social-evaluative
stressors on employees’ recovery and general well-being.
Finally, our integration of the social-evaluative threat lit-
erature with the stressor-detachment model as a ubiquitous
framework may help simplify the process of connecting con-
structs from different research domains (Ferris et al., 2016)
and specifically advance the development of a paradigm for
research on social-evaluative stressors and recovery. While our
work has focused empirically on negative workplace gossip,
we believe that our model can be extended to other forms of
social-evaluative stressors, such as workplace rumors, which
circulate uncertain or doubtful truth in the workplace and have
similar disreputable implications as negative gossip (DiFonzo
& Bordia, 2007). Moreover, despite motivational differences,
both rumors and negative gossip seem to be identical in terms
of their outcomes on well-being and mechanisms (Michelson
et al., 2004). In other words, we expected rumors to exhibit a
similar pattern of relationships with the outcomes and under-
pinning process for recovery, as found in this study for nega-
tive workplace gossip. Thus, our integrated framework has
the potential to advance future research concerning how other
social-evaluative stressors in the workplace may impact recov-
ery, providing unique insights into social-evaluative threat phe-
nomena while connecting stressor detachment or recovery to a
larger, generative body of literature.
Practical Implications
This study has several important implications for practi-
tioners. First, our finding that negative workplace gossip
13
508
undermines employees’ life satisfaction through psychologi-
cal detachment reminds managers of the seriousness of its
negative effects. Although negative workplace gossip may
be prevalent and unavoidable, organizations interested in
improving their employees’ life satisfaction should reduce
the spread of negative workplace gossip and mitigate the
ill effects thereof (Noon & Delbridge, 1993). For example,
because a lack of sufficient formal communication is an
important reason as to why employees engage in gossip at
work (Lee & Barnes, 2021; Michelson et al., 2010), organi-
zations should provide more effective formal communication
channels for employees to speak out about their concerns
and suggestions. Managers should emphasize organizational
policies for communication and discourage negative gossip.
In doing so, organizations may be able to prevent the harm-
ful effects of negative workplace gossip.
Second, organizations can help and support their employ-
ees to maintain work and non-work boundaries based on the
finding that psychological detachment is an important mech-
anism through which negative workplace gossip impacts
employees’ life satisfaction. Organizations can intervene to
alleviate the difficulty of detachment from the outset. For
instance, managers can help employees detach from work by
setting appropriate policies and work-non-work boundaries
(Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). Employees should be encouraged
to participate in leisure activities after work so as to promote
psychological detachment.
Third, our finding that FSSB is critically important in
reducing the harmful effects of negative workplace gos-
sip provides meaningful insights. Supervisors should be
equipped with FSSB skills through training as an effective
intervention since supervisors may not deliver informal sup-
port to employees appropriately (Hammer et al., 2006). For
example, organizations should provide training to supervi-
sors to help them exhibit family-supportive behaviors such
as providing emotional support, responding to employees’
work and family needs, modeling a family-supportive role,
and discussing ways of integrating work and family respon-
sibilities (Hammer et al., 2009). Such positive leadership
styles may also help employees reduce the psychological
distress caused by negative workplace gossip and put aside
gossip-related matters when they leave work, which can
buffer the cross-domain effects of negative workplace gos-
sip and other negative workplace events.
Limitations and Future Directions
The present study has several limitations. First, although our
cross-lagged research design enables stronger causal infer-
ences than cross-sectional and time-lagged designs, all meas-
ures were collected from a single source, which presents a
risk that common method variance may have influenced our
results. Future research should consider collecting data from
13
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
different sources, such as more objective measures of quality
of life. Moreover, an important next step in workplace gossip
research is to explore the impact of gossip on targets from a
temporal perspective, for example, changes and fluctuations
in their perceptions, moods, or behaviors, using an experi-
ence sampling methodology (ESM) design. Such a design
can model changes in reported variables (e.g., perceived gos-
sip, psychological detachment, and sleep quality) that are
theoretically linked but occur within a person longitudinally.
Second, although the mean scores for perceived negative
workplace gossip in our study ­(meanT1 = 1.55; ­SDT1 = 0.62
on a 5-point scale; ­meanT3 = 1.81; ­SDT3 = 0.82 on a 5-point
scale) are within the range that was reported in previous
studies with Chinese samples (e.g., Tian et al., 2019, mean =
1.43; SD = 0.72 on a 5-point scale; Wu et al., 2018, mean =
1.85; SD = 0.65 on a 5-point scale), the association between
perceived negative workplace gossip and other variables
might be weakened due to the restricted range of perceived
negative workplace gossip. We suggest that future research
examine the effects of perceived negative workplace gossip
using a larger sample and more rigorous measurement pro-
cedures to improve the accuracy of the analysis.
Third, the direct relationship between perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip and life satisfaction warrants further
study. In this study, the correlation between perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip and life satisfaction is not statistically
significant (r = 0.04, p > 0.05). There are two possible
reasons for this. On the one hand, as illustrated in prior stud-
ies (e.g., Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012; Krausz et al.,
1998), the correlation between the predictor and its distal
outcome variable might be not significant. Negative work-
place gossip is a typical social-evaluative stressor at work,
whereas life satisfaction pertains to perceptions encompass-
ing work as well as non-work. Some studies (e.g., Erdogan
et al., 2012; Maybery et al., 2007) have illustrated that the
relationship between work-related stressors and life sat-
isfaction is relatively distal, implying that work-related
stressors might indirectly relate to life satisfaction through
proximal mechanisms. Statistically, this might be reflected
in the non-significant correlation between perceived nega-
tive workplace gossip (a work-related stressor in the current
study) and life satisfaction. Practically, this suggests that
the negative effects of perceived negative workplace gossip
on life satisfaction occur when psychological detachment
(i.e., the proximal mediator) fails to serve as an adaptive
mechanism. If employees can psychologically detach from
negative workplace gossip and adapt their cognition and
emotions in life, it is likely that perceived negative work-
place gossip will not affect life satisfaction.
On the other hand, as MacKinnon et al. (2000) suggested,
when direct and indirect effects are similar in magnitude but
have opposite signs, it is certainly possible to find a non-
significant overall relationship. The results of our hypothesis
Journal of Business and Psychology (2024) 39:497–511
model without reversed directional associations show that
the indirect effect of perceived negative workplace gossip
on life satisfaction is negative and significant (effect size =
−0.03, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [−0.08, −0.01]), whereas the
direct effect between these two variables is positive and non-
significant (effect size = 0.09, SE = 0.07, 95% CI = [−0.05,
0.22]). According to MacKinnon et al. (2000), the opposite
signs of the indirect and direct effects in the current study
may explain why the correlation between perceived negative
workplace gossip and life satisfaction is not significant. In
a word, our results are in accordance with the view that a
significant indirect effect “can exist even if there is not a sig-
nificant relationship between the independent and dependent
variables” (MacKinnon et al., 2000, p. 175). Nevertheless, it
would be valuable to further examine the direct relationship
between work-related stressors and life satisfaction and to
discuss the implications of these findings in future studies.
Finally, except for psychological detachment, we did
not explore other mechanisms linking perceived negative
workplace gossip to life satisfaction. Previous studies have
suggested that stressful work experiences (e.g., abusive
supervision and workplace ostracism) would affect employ-
ee’s well-being through several mechanisms such as burn-
out (Carlson et al., 2012) and relational tension (Carlson
et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2013). Based on these findings, it is
theoretically possible that other mediators or suppressors
could explain the relationship between perceived negative
workplace gossip and life satisfaction. Future studies should
investigate additional mechanisms that could contribute to
a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between
perceived negative workplace gossip and life satisfaction.
Author Contributions All authors contributed to the study concep-
tion and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis
were performed by Jun Xie and Yongyi Liang. The first draft of the
manuscript was written by Jun Xie and Yongyi Liang, and all authors
commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read
and approved the final manuscript.
Funding This research was supported by the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (72202085, 71922011, 71772076),
the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation
(2023A1515011015), the Foundamental Research Funds for the Cen-
tral Universities (23NJYH03), and the Institute for Enterprise Develop-
ment, Jinan University, Guangdong Province (22JNZS02).
Declarations
Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing interests.
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