A little bird told me so...: How does communication during the meeting influence negative workplace gossip

Workplace meetings are considered as an integral part of organizational life, where employees spend a great deal of work time. Workplace meetings are also arenas where employees can engage in communication, express their voices, and share their ideas. However, many meeting attendees are usually silent. Silence is driven by futility and fear of expressing the voice. Therefore, if meeting attendees do not express their voices during the meeting, they are expected to share their opinions and ideas after the meeting with trusted ones via negative workplace gossip because negative workplace gossip can be used as a tool for stress relief. Surprisingly, there is no empirical evidence of how voice/silence during the meeting promotes negative workplace gossip and the role of perceived meeting effectiveness. Consequently, the study aims to empirically examine this relationship and provide insight into organizational informal communication.