University of Birmingham

Research showing that workplace gossip is blighting the careers of hotel workers in China raises intriguing questions over whether staff in other countries are facing the same struggle.

Our research findings show negative workplace gossip severely impacts people’s career growth prospects – especially among workers who are most likely to take the gossip seriously and worry about how colleagues perceive them.

While we carried out our research in four- and five-star hotels in the thriving Chinese city of Guangzhou, there’s nothing unique about any culture when it comes to gossip. It’s a normal part of human behaviour with positive as well as negative effects in workplaces.

But if the darker sides of gossip have been shown to be harming hotel workers’ careers in China, could the same scenario be being played out elsewhere? The prospect that negative gossip could, in principle, be harming these workers’ reputations and careers is concerning.

And it’s certainly a credible suggestion, given some of the hotel industry’s universal workplace patterns, like frequent and sometimes intense interactions between staff and relatively fixed interpersonal circles. So, it’s important to understand negative gossip’s impact, wherever it occurs – not least since our earlier research shows it also harms employees’ wellbeing.

Of course, detailed local research is needed to confirm the presence and extent of any similar problem beyond the borders of China. But it’s an important question to raise, given the potential impact on businesses as well as people. As our study shows, the harmful effects feed back into workplace issues like the hospitality industry’s notoriously high turnover rates. With travel and tourism contributing significantly to the GDP of many countries, there’s even a potential economic impact.

So, is it plausible that hotel workers, for example in the UK or United States, are suffering similar stunted careers to their Chinese counterparts if targeted by negative gossip in the same way?

It’s certainly true that gossip is widespread across global societies and that personal reputations can be shaped by gossip as well as behaviour in virtually any setting.

But major differences exist too – these are by no means homogenous cultures, and it would be a mistake to generalise from one culture to another without evidence. What is clear is that if the same situation is occurring elsewhere in the world, no-one is measuring it. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, our study was the first anywhere in the world to specifically examine how negative workplace gossip impacts employees’ career outcomes in the hospitality sector.

In other words, negative gossip’s potential damage to individuals, businesses and the wider global economy is currently being overlooked – leaving potentially thousands of hotel workers facing reputational damage that has not been recognised, much less addressed.

If the same patterns are occurring elsewhere, it’s also important to ask whether the same solutions might break the cycle of negative gossip and stunted careers. Some ideas might work in almost any global workplace culture, like better training, collaborative activities to build relationships and support for the most sensitive staff.

But will all our suggested solutions for China travel well? That is less certain. Would managers in Europe or Australia show equal commitment to creating harmonious working environments? Would staff in both cultures find these attempts equally acceptable?

Again, only full and detailed research can answer those questions. But what we can say with certainty is that negative workplace gossip will already be occurring around the world – in fact, in any setting where humans gather and work. Regrettably, we can also be confident that it permeates the daily lives and workplace experience of its targets, and that ignoring it seems highly likely to hinder business growth as well as individuals’ careers.

Data will tell us the true picture. But even now, the global hotel industry could consider proactively tackling negative workplace gossip, given the likely positive effects of these efforts for individuals and businesses. Hotel workers could receive new training in interpersonal skills and protecting their own – and other people’s – reputations, helping them build career growth potential.

It will be for tomorrow’s researchers to confirm whether negative workplace gossip is blighting lives and business beyond China. But today’s businesses can already take steps to limit the potential damage.