In this study, we attempt to evaluate gender-based differences in gossiping habits, subjects and sentiments. In order to do so, a mixed methods research approach comprising qualitative and quantitative analyses was employed. Questionnaires were filled out by 2230 participants, and an open question format was used, with participants imagining a scenario in which they are invited to describe to a friend, a person they had just met. Our findings suggest that, quantitatively speaking, women and men engage in the same amount of gossiping activity. Nevertheless, gender-based differences are apparent in the subject of gossip. Women gossip more about social relationships and physical appearance than men. It was also found that women's gossip is more positive than men's. Qualitative analysis of the data provides a more complex picture. For example, while women gossip more about physical appearance than men, their descriptions tend to be couched in positive terms, although they are deployed to emphasize other salient negative traits. This research therefore contributes to the refutation of gender-based stereotypes about gossiping.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand better the organizational social capital (SC) levels and their impact on organizations by focusing on personal SC and intra-organizational SC as well as their different connections to organizational gossip and employee performance.Design/methodology/approach: Participants in a field study included 617 employees from five Israeli organizations in the field of aviation and shipping. Levels of personal SC, intra-organizational SC, gossip and self-evaluated performance were measured, and connections between them detected.Findings: The results indicate that intra-organizational SC is positively connected to employee performance, while personal SC is positively linked to gossip. Personal SC also leads to performance with the mediation of intra-organizational SC, although gossip was not found to be connected to performance.Originality/value: The contributions of this study are both conceptual and practical. The distinction between organizational SC levels is refined, improving organizational research accuracy and facilitating a better grasp of the connections between SC and other variables. The scant research on organizational gossip has been expanded. From a practical perspective, clarification of the link between organizational SC and performance can be beneficial to employees and organizations.

Purpose: This study relates to two levels of organization social capital (SC): personal SC and intra-organizational SC. Personal SC is the utility derived from the person’s relationship, and his positioning in networks, inside and out of the organization. Intra-organizational SC is the benefit derived from interactions within, and between groups in the organization, and is based on trust, reciprocity, common goals, sharing information and knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine the difference between the SC levels by their connections to employee energy and success, before and after crisis.Design/methodology/approach: In order to test the hypotheses, the authors used the Enron e-mails corpus, the texts were analyzed using SQL.Findings: The findings suggest that the impact of personal SC and intra-organizational SC, on employee energy and success is different. Personal SC was found to have a higher impact on those two variables, than intra-organizational SC. After crisis, this gap became larger.Originality/value: The importance of the findings is in the distinction between the SC levels, and their different impact on the employees. However, the situation of Enron employees at that time implies that the more important level of SC is the intra-organizational SC.

This research primarily aims to evaluate traits exhibited by people when asked to describe in writing a third person to a friend. These traits were classified as positive or negative based on a qualitative analysis conducted on 2230 respondent texts. The request was, in fact, perceived by many participants as a request to gossip, and was opposed with various tacit and explicit rejections. Traits were analyzed and rated by software that was developed specifically for this research. The majority of traits were found to be positive, with ‘good’ the most prominent. This analysis also confirmed that people do not want to be perceived as gossips. They tend to oppose the request to gossip and prefer to use positive trait descriptors.