I came across this great quote from Japke-d. Bouma, a columnist for the NRC: “Een bedrijf zonder roddel is als een voetbalwedstrijd zonder bal, een paella zonder garnalen, een hipster zonder baard.” [An organization without gossip is like a soccer game without a ball, a paella without shrimp, and a hipster without a beard].
While gossip usually has a bad rap, more and more managers, academics and researchers are recognizing the important role it plays in an organization’s communication and corporate culture. However, researching such a topic is not so easy to do…
In my article “Researching the mechanisms of gossip: From fly on the wall to fly in the soup,” that appeared this summer in The Qualitative Report, I explore how best to research such a sensitive topic.
Any comments, feedback or suggestions would be welcome, as I will continue to research this topic with a lot of enthusiasm!