Admiration or envy? How observers’ reactions to workplace helping behavior influence their gossiping

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21620100
AutoresYuling Chen (0000-0002-8674-8356, Xihua University Research Institute of International Economics and Management, , Chengdu, , and School of Management, Xihua University, Chengdu, China), Yu-Ling Chen (0000-0002-6976-4055, Xihua University), Shuang Xu (0000-0002-3470-0609, Xihua University Research Institute of International Economics and Management, , Chengdu), Shuai Xu (0000-0001-7919-2874, Xihua University), Jingzhi Shao (0000-0002-8900-4838, Xihua University Research Institute of International Economics and Management, , Chengdu), Jie Yang (0000-0001-6912-4966, Xihua University), Jiali Yang (0009-0008-3911-5549, Xihua University School of Management, , Chengdu), Fang Wan (0000-0002-2377-9972, The University of British Columbia Faculty of Management, , Vancouver), Charles Weizheng Chen (Sichuan University Business School, , Chengdu, , and Research Institute of International Economics and Management, Xihua University, Chengdu, China)
Ano2026
Páginas1-25
Data de publicação2026-03-10
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Conflict Management (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1044-4068 • E-ISSN: 1758-8545
EditoraEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/ijcma-07-2025-0264
OpenAlexW7134285456
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas97

Purpose By focusing on bystander perceptions, this study aims to investigate how observed workplace helping behavior elicits gossip through admiration and envy and how competitive relationships shape these emotional pathways. Design/methodology/approach This research comprised two studies: (1) a two-wave survey of 416 employees with a one-week interval to mitigate common method bias, and (2) a 2 × 2 scenario-based experiment involving 341 participants, in which observed workplace helping behavior and competitive relationships were manipulated to test causal effects. Findings The results indicate that admiration mediated the relationship between observed workplace helping behavior and positive gossip, while envy mediated the relationship between observed workplace helping behavior and negative gossip. Moreover, competitive relationships negatively moderated the positive pathway but did not significantly influence the envy pathway. Originality/value By highlighting how observers’ admiration and envy toward helpers give rise to positive and negative gossip, this study introduces an emotional-evaluative lens to workplace helping behavior and reveals that third-party emotional reactions play a key role in shaping how prosocial behavior is perceived and interpreted in the workplace

Admiration · Bystander effect · Gossip · Helping behavior · Prosocial behavior · Conflict Management and Negotiation · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies