Gossip as a technique of verbal influence on employees of an organization: results of theoretical and empirical study

Bulgakov A.V.

Moscow City Pedagogical University
Russia, Moscow
e-mail: av_bulgakow@mail.ru

The study of the phenomenon of "gossip" has a long history, from ancient times to the present day, in philology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and pedagogy. The internet contains over 360,000 references to various sources using this concept. The Russian State Library's online database for the period 2010–2022 contains over 2,000 scholarly documents on the topic.

Figure 1 shows the distribution (Pareto diagram) of studies on the "gossip" phenomenon by field of science, presented in the Russian State Library's electronic database in 2010–2022. A qualitative analysis by field of science is presented below (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Distribution (Pareto diagram) of studies of the «gossip» phenomenon by branches of science, presented in the electronic database of the Russian State Library, 2010–2022, n=2932 units.

Philology. Among the overwhelming majority of the works cited for our study, we can highlight the works of D. V. Sheiko [25], who analyzes gossip in the cogitosemantic aspect; L. A. Efremycheva [10], using classical works of Russian literature and folklore to study rumor – a natural component of gossip, presented as «women’s»; T.A. Pirusskaya [17] , which defined gossip as a narrative, studied its chronotope and the variation of the «mise en abyme» («gossip within gossip») technique.

Psychology. D.S. Gorbatov [6; 7; 8] conducted a definitional analysis of rumors in psychological science, examined their psychological nature, identified the differences between rumors, gossip, modern legends, and also proposed his own definition of rumors and their differences from other types. According to the author, "gossip should be considered those types of communication in which unconfirmed information is transmitted." M.N. Buzadzhi [2] interprets gossip as the cause of a negative socio-psychological climate in municipal government bodies; Yu.A. Gotseva [9] sees gossip as a form of lying, in which people pass on to each other poorly verified information about their acquaintances or famous significant people, accompanied by "quiet schadenfreude." In contact with others throughout their lives, bearers of gossip use them to maintain relationships with others. A.S. Chakhoyan [23], studying the ethnocultural aspects of lying, determined that people prone to reactive aggression are more likely to lie—to gossip. Furthermore, they attribute more motives for lying to themselves than others. D.V. Savchenko demonstrated that gossip spreads in situations of heightened tension, under the influence of stress. The majority of his respondents (45.4%) encounter gossip almost daily, while 18.2% encounter it once or twice a month [18, p. 111].

A.G. Makeeva [12] places gossip on a par with mobbing and bullying. According to the scientist, the most widespread mobbing action in the threat of "encroachment on social authority" is gossip. V.R. Petrosyants [16] provides a list of the predominant forms of violence in the educational environment, where, along with "humiliation" (34.19%), "gossip" took second place (18%). It can be confidently stated that gossip is one of the causes of bullying. A.S. Sergeeva [19] revealed that gossip reflects the emotional aspect of the relationships established in the group, its psychological climate, which has a clearly expressed emotionally negative coloring. S.V. Patsynko [14] defines gossip as an informal channel of collective communication on a par with rumors, folk art, and spontaneous discussions.

Sociology. I.V. Stroganova [20] interprets gossip as a source of informal information in organizations and links its bearers to the procedure for selecting focus group participants for its study. N.Yu. Chelnokova [24] defines the presence of rumors and gossip as a lack of mutual understanding between departments of the organization as a whole. Furthermore, gossip satisfies a certain informational need of society for additional information about the lives of popular figures, which influences voter behavior.

Overall, it should be noted that our analysis of available materials on the psychology of gossip revealed that this issue has been addressed by Russian scholars only partially and patchily, in conjunction with other issues. Exceptions include D.V. Olshansky's (2003) work on identifying the potential of gossip in political propaganda and D.S. Gorbatov's (2012) comprehensive study on the psychology of rumors and gossip.

Yet scientific research has demonstrated the effectiveness of rumors and gossip as tools for influencing others. They are actively used in politics, business, film, and other fields. Statements that partially reflect reality, embellishing it by changing some details, are usually called rumors and gossip. «"The difference between them is that, unlike rumors, which are always unreliable, gossip carries false or true, verified or unverifiable, incomplete, biased, but plausible information about affairs and circumstances concerning rather closed aspects of the lives of elite groups" [1]. In our study, gossip is analyzed as a technique of verbal influence. There is some experience in actively studying this phenomenon using observation, experimentation, and special recording methods, such as, for example, the method of spectral analysis of audio recordings developed by Stanford Gregory for measuring the level of speech synchrony, as well as for interpreting the quality of interaction [26].

The two most frequently used approaches in the scientific literature to understanding the functions of gossip in social interaction are the informational and the functionalist. The informational approach views gossip as a tool for comparing individual characteristics with those of others. It also highlights its potential for accessing information important for comparison processes. From a functionalist perspective, gossip establishes relevant values and associated norms and sanctions for members of group interactions. The limitation of these approaches is that neither provides a complete picture of the motivation for gossip [15].

Various models for studying the phenomenon of gossip exist (D.S. Gorbatov, A.P. Nazaretyan, D. McGregor, R. Dunbar, N. Abercrombie, M.G. White, and others). This study developed and tested a model that will reflect individual or paired interactions in a small group, which is highly significant in the communicative environment of an organization. F. Bartlett, K. Kirkpatrick, G. Allport, and others, back in the 1920s-40s, appreciated the role of overheard gossip in shaping mass psychology and managing mass processes, and began to purposefully study the laws of its origin and dissemination.

Through gossip, people learn to navigate a new group: they quickly learn who's friendly with whom, who's the "power behind the throne," whether the work schedule is truly strictly adhered to, or whether being late is acceptable. A few stories told by a "desperate gossip" can even replace a formal introduction to the group. This way, they can understand what's important to this group, what's frowned upon, and what's considered heroic. "Gossip is a kind of psychological test," notes sociology and criminology professor Jack Levin. "Its nature reveals a person's sphere of interests." [6].

Another function of gossip is to build alliances. By sharing a juicy secret with someone, and with the obligatory "just not to anyone, okay?", we express trust in the other person, demonstrating that they are a valuable recipient of this information. Someone with whom we can share gossip is definitely "one of us.".

E. Foster [22] identified four main social functions of gossip: information, entertainment, influence, and friendship (intimacy). The exchange of gossip also creates "initiated circles" in professional communities. These include people who, although they did not study at the same university or were not members of a fraternity, are nevertheless implicitly connected. Gradually, they begin to support each other in work matters. R. Trivers [21] argues that gossip helps us maintain our own sense of social effectiveness. Having understood why we so easily believe what we hear and repeat it, he even calculated the ideal form of gossip: it should simultaneously be filled with sympathy for the victim and contain information that clearly "denigrates" them. According to R. Trivers, such a recipe allows the participant in the gossip to maintain dignity, and at the same time listen to and share shocking details from the lives of others. [11].

A generalized analysis of scientific approaches and methods for studying the phenomenon of gossip is presented in Table 1.

 

Table 1

Correlation of scientific approaches and methods for studying the phenomenon of gossip

Scientific approach	The author and followers	Subject of study	Methodology of study
Functionalist approach
Social and psychological	R. Rosnow	Gossip as communication	Interviewing
	E. Foster	Functions of gossip
The concept of social efficiency	R. Trivers	Gossip in the context of the problem of personal dignity	Interviewing
Information approach
Theory of interaction rituals	R. Collins; Yu. A. Prozorova	Research on small groups, including gossip	Observation, interviewing
The concept of speech synchrony	S. Gregory; A. Kendon; A. Paxton and R. Dale	Speech interaction	a method for analyzing the degree of achieved speech synchrony through the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the speakers' voices (spectral analysis of audio recordings)
Performance-centered approach	R. Abrahams	Gossip as a way to maintain a positive image in a group and influence other group members	Observation, interviewing
The effect of reverse transfer of attitudes	B. Gawronski and E. Walter; S. Farley	Perception of gossiping individuals as less influential and less likeable	Experiment

The study was conceived and implemented as a series of multi-level theoretical and empirical studies of the phenomenon of gossip. First, a psychosemantic analysis of scientific texts (articles, dissertations) was conducted using internet platforms [4]. Second, the problem of interest was identified from a previously conducted empirical study of mobbing in organizations of various affiliations. Third, a correlational study was conducted to examine the relationship between personality traits, on the one hand, and various types of gossip, on the other. Fourth, a relationship was established between gossip types and group identification status. The third and fourth stages were conducted during a real experiment.

Hypotheses.

1. The identified scientific works on the issue of gossip in an organization present it as a speech influence included in the core of ideas about the overall linguistic personality of a work collective.
2. The use of gossip is specific to top-down mobbing in industrial and educational organizations.
3. Gossip types are correlated with individual psychological characteristics. The resulting relationships expand our understanding of them in the context of the communicative influence of group members.
4. The group identification status of a group representative is related to the type of gossip used.

Results and discussion

1. A psychosemantic analysis of 60 dissertations and 40 articles identified a core set of scholarly works on the topic of gossip. Individual equivalent fragments of the dissertations—thesis statements submitted for defense—were used for comparison. The articles were analyzed in their entirety. Table 2 presents the results of this text analysis.

 

Table 2

Results of psychosemantic analysis of texts

«"Provisions submitted for defense" from dissertations on the problem

Word	Quantity	Frequency rank	Word	Quantity	Frequency rank
Gossip	14	4.55	Gossip/rumor	12	2.54
Phenomenon	9	2.92	Communicative	7	1.48
Semantic	6	1.95	Information	6	1.27
The phenomenon of gossip	6	1.95 / 3.90	Mixing	6	1.27
Component	5	1.62	Message	6	1.27
Content	5	1.62	Social	6	1.27
Language	5	1.62	Unconfirmed	5	1.06
Author's	4	1.30	Microgroup	4	0.85

From the tables it is clear that the core of ideas about gossip includes both the actual word gossip and other referents of various aspects of the concept.

To describe the problem of gossip's functions, two levels of analysis are used: group and individual. At the group level, gossip is perceived as one of the common methods of self-regulation (maintaining unity and values, controlling competition and selecting leaders, etc.) within a community, to overcome problematic situations, or to achieve group goals. At the individual level, gossip is viewed in the context of gaining personal advantage over or at the expense of others. A scale has been developed to assess the level of gossip. The results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3

Representation of socio-psychological aspects of gossip in scientific texts, according to the results of psycho-semantic analysis,

within the walls (n=60 scientific sources)

 

	Group level					Individual level
	PROBLEM GROUPS
	I	II	III	IV	V	I	II	III	IV	V
Volume of one article	85-90 thousand words
Semantic core	5-20 words
Density	6	8	5	5	3	6	7	4	5	5
Semantic load	7	7	6	8	5	5	6	5	5	5
Substantiality	6	8	8	7	3	8	6	7	6	5
Harmony	6	6	6	4	3	4	7	4	6	4

 

Note. Groups of problems in the study of gossip: I - a way to gain personal advantages (aggression is more characteristic of lies-gossip, etc.); II - a method of self-regulation (gossip spreads more intensively in situations of increased tension, stress); III - a reflection of aspects of the socio-psychological climate (lack of mutual understanding between departments of the organization; the cause of the negative socio-psychological climate; a reflection of interpersonal relationships developed in the team); IV - a type of communication (an informal channel of collective communication and a source of informal information); V - mobbing action.

2. The mobbing conflicts were diagnosed using the method developed by E.A. Ugnich and S.G. Zarzhevsky. The study involved 198 participants: 92 men and 106 women, aged 25 to 35. The organizations that participated in the study were:

1) State corporations Roscosmos and Rosatom. Forty-five employees working in research and production departments at each organization were surveyed. The total sample size was 90.

2) Teachers from eight vocational education colleges in the Moscow region. A total of 108 people (teachers and vocational training instructors) participated in the study.

The samples were equalized by age, gender, and level of education.

The most common mobbing strategies in government corporations included the following: 1) Receiving tasks that should be performed by other employees (73.11% of respondents answered affirmatively). 2) Questioning the employee's decisions and actions (56.21% of respondents answered affirmatively). 3) Receiving meaningless tasks (44.61% of respondents answered affirmatively).

In the teams of secondary vocational education organizations, the most popular mobbing strategies were the same, only in a different order. 1) The employee's decisions and actions are questioned (39.11% of respondents answered affirmatively); 2) Receiving meaningless tasks (25.91% of respondents answered affirmatively); 3) Receiving tasks that should be performed by other employees (24.31% of respondents answered affirmatively).

The mobbing strategy of "spreading false rumors and gossip about an employee" showed correlations with the following: a state of tension, extreme agitation (r=0.290*); with preoccupation with gloomy thoughts, anxious states (r=0.244*); with feelings of physical malaise: headaches, dizziness, gastrointestinal problems (r=0.281*); with a feeling of tension (r=0.290*), as well as with an inverse correlation with a feeling of calm, serenity (r=-0.239*).

3. In our actual experiment, we considered the effect of the Transfer of Attitudes Recursively (TAR) on gossip—the negative perception of gossiping individuals in small groups. The ambivalence of this concept in interpersonal communication is also noteworthy.

The empirical study of gossip was carried out as a correlational study, where the results of the study of gossip indicators during a real experiment and the SMIL, DMO scales of L.N. Sobchik were used as variables.

Twenty-two students from the Kikot Moscow Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia participated in the real-life experiment. All subjects were female, ranging in age from 21 to 25. The experiment was conducted using participant observation. A specially developed observation chart based on three criteria (gossip groups: "random," "targeted," and "explicit") was used to record gossip. A three-point rating scale was used. The results were tabulated using the following indicators.

1. Who speaks out?
2. Who listens and reacts to this manifestation of Fama
3. What is the statement about?
4. What is the reason for this statement?
5. Motivation for pronunciation
6. Summary of what has been said

As a result, it was determined that gossip can be presented in the form of a typology: random, explicit, purposeful.

For "«random gossip»"They are typically used in large amounts of information, which can be supplemented with unconfirmed facts to enhance a person's knowledge of the topic. It's difficult to identify clichéd phrases for this type of manifestation. Only then can you identify a person using gossip. In most cases, during the study, researchers used expressions such as "...how can I say..."; "...and also..."; "...by the way...".

«Obvious gossip»" are characterized by emotionality. Accordingly, statements classified as this type will also be emotionally charged. An example of this type of statement might be beginning a sentence with a striking introduction: "Have you heard that..." or ending the phrase with the words "I know for sure"; "I saw it myself.".

«"Targeted gossip»" are distinguished by their persuasiveness. It's important for a person to convey information and to be believed by others. In this case, existing information is reinforced by "reliable sources," while others are often underscored by their lack of awareness of the information being received during communication. Examples of such statements include: "Sidorenko gave me this information (link to a 'reliable' source)"; "Don't believe me? Ask anyone!"; "Do as you wish, I told you everything!".

Observations were conducted daily for a month by an assistant—one of the group members. After the actual experiment, the data obtained were subjected to a standardization procedure using V.A. Pozhematkina's original methodology [5].

The observation results showed that the percentage distribution of "hidden," "overt," and "targeted" gossip was stable and practically equal: 157 instances of "hidden" gossip (32%); "overt" gossip was used 176 times (36%); and "targeted" gossip – 158 times (32%). Of the 22 respondents, 2 people (9%) did not use gossip as a verbal influence technique.

Those who used each type of gossip 1 to 10 times accounted for 37% (8 people). Those who used it 10 to 20 times, which is 8% more, accounted for 45% (10 people) of the total number of respondents. 9% (2 people) showed results of gossip 20 to 25 recorded instances.

Next, a correlation analysis was carried out between the parameters of the types of gossip and the parameters of the personality questionnaires and the TSI-M [3], which were

were processed earlier during training sessions. The results are presented in Table 4.

Table 4

Correlation matrix according to the methods used, n=22 people.

	Authoritarian	Dependent	social lability	Optimism	Hidden	Obvious	Targeted	Group. Indent. Status
Authoritarian	1	0,121	-0,088	0,132	0,267	0,102	0,249	,113
Dependent	0,121	1	-0,089	-0,183	0,15	0,11	0,06	-,062
social lability	-0,088	-0,089	1	0,169	-0,14	-0,063	0,197	,308
Optimism	0,132	-0,183	0,169	1	0,464	0,231	-0,135	,280
Hidden	0,267	0,15	-0,14	0,464	1	0,357	0,108	,231
Obvious	0,102	0,11	-0,063	0,231	0,357	1	0,014	,097
Targeted	0,249	0,06	0,197	-0,135	0,108	0,014	1	,057
Group. Indent. Status	,113	-,062	,308	,280	,231	,097	,057	1,000

Correlation analysis revealed weak associations (ranging from 0.25 to over 0.35) between gossip types and personality traits. Covert gossip is associated with "optimism" and "authoritarianism." Overt gossip is associated with "optimism." Targeted gossip is associated with authoritarianism. Furthermore, a relationship was found between covert and overt gossip. Group identification status is associated with the manifestation of covert gossip.

The results of the factor analysis are presented in Tables 5 and 6.

 

Table 5

Total explained variance

Extraction method: principal component analysis

Component	Initial eigenvalues			Sums of squares of extraction loads			Sums of squares of rotational loads
	Total	% Dispersions	Cumulative %	Total	% Dispersions	Cumulative %	Total	% Dispersions	Cumulative %
1	1,847	26,387	26,387	1,847	26,387	26,387	1,795	25,638	25,638
2	1,326	18,946	45,333	1,326	18,946	45,333	1,326	18,945	44,584
3	1,237	17,669	63,002	1,237	17,669	63,002	1,289	18,419	63,002

The data were grouped into three factors, covering a total of 63% of variance. Factor 1—"latent" (25.6% of variance)—and Factor 3—"targeted" (18.4% of variance)—were the most prominent.

Table 6

Extraction method: Principal component analysis

Component matrixa Component 1 2 3 Authoritarian ,469 -,329 ,397 Dependent ,076 -,584 ,277 Social Lability ,125 ,726 ,396 optimism ,700 ,312 -,378 Hidden ,794 -,269 -,126 Obvious ,555 -,268 -,210 targeted ,178 -,046 ,821 Group status ,536 ,484 ,144 Extraction method: Principal component analysis. a. Extracted components: 3

Rotated component matrixa Component 1 2 3 Authoritarian ,335 ,001 ,611 Dependent ,082 -,398 ,508 Social Lability -,194 ,811 ,067 Optimism ,709 ,394 -,266 Hidden ,817 -,003 ,224 Obvious ,635 -,112 ,085 targeted -,150 ,287 ,776 Group status ,324 ,659 ,066 Extraction method: Principal component analysis. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization.a. Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

Thus, factor analysis confirmed the correctness of the identification of gossip types: hidden, overt and purposeful.

Conclusions

A qualitative analysis of gossip research across various fields was conducted. The identified scientific papers on gossip in organizations present it as a linguistic tool embedded in core concepts of the linguistic personality of the workforce.

The correlation of scientific approaches and methods for studying the phenomenon of gossip made it possible to substantiate multi-level methodology study of the phenomenon of "gossip", the application of which makes it possible to expand the understanding of the socio-psychological phenomenon of "gossip" as a technique of verbal influence in managing employees of an organization.

The empirical study identified the following types of gossip: overt, covert, and targeted. Weak correlations (r=0.25-0.3) were found between these types of gossip and personality traits. Covert gossip is associated with optimism and authoritarianism. Overt gossip is associated with optimism. Targeted gossip is associated with authoritarianism. Furthermore, a correlation was found between covert and overt gossip. The role of gossip as a tool of verbal influence in the process of mobbing in organizations across various industries was revealed.

To understand leadership in a group, the results of the relationship between the group identification index and hidden gossip are important.

Further research into organizational gossip requires triangulation of approaches and research methods, which is understood as the practice of using multiple data sources or multiple data analysis approaches to increase the validity of the study.

Overall, the results of our study will help optimize employee selection for more effective work within the organization, communication interactions, and interactions both within the organization and externally.

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