Abstract
Gossip is condemned but also ubiquitous and thought to be essential for groups. This triggers the question of which motives explain gossip behavior. Hitherto, negative influence, social enjoyment, group protection, and information gathering and validation are established as motives to gossip. However, venting emotions-discussed as a potentially important motive-has been overlooked empirically. Furthermore, a lack of consensus about a definition of gossip may have affected previous conclusions about gossip motives. This study (N = 460) expands the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire (MGQ; Beersma and Van Kleef, 2012) by including a subscale measuring emotion venting, the desire to share emotionally evocative experiences. To validate the five motives to gossip across definitions, we asked participants to report the most recent gossip event they experienced, randomly assigning them to one of three instructions containing different gossip definitions commonly used in the literature: (1) broad instructions (sharing information about third parties who have no knowledge of the exchanged information), (2) narrower instructions (adding that the shared information must be evaluative), and (3) instructions using the word gossip. After participants recalled and described a gossip event, they completed the 25-item measure of five motives to gossip: social enjoyment, information gathering and validation, negative influence, group protection, and emotion venting. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-factor structure. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full invariance across the three definition conditions. This indicates the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire successfully measures the five dimensions argued to motivate gossip and can be applied in research conceptualizing gossip both narrowly and broadly.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1190 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | MAY |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2019 |
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Keywords
- Confirmatory factor analysis
- Emotion venting
- Factorial validity
- Gossip definition
- Measurement invariance
- Motives to gossip
- Motives to gossip questionnaire
Cite this
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Getting a grip on the grapevine : Extension and factor structure of the motives to gossip questionnaire. / Dores Cruz, Terence D.; Balliet, Daniel; Sleebos, Ed; Beersma, Bianca; Van Kleef, Gerben A.; Gallucci, Marcello.
In: Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 10, No. MAY, 1190, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Getting a grip on the grapevine
T2 - Extension and factor structure of the motives to gossip questionnaire
AU - Dores Cruz, Terence D.
AU - Balliet, Daniel
AU - Sleebos, Ed
AU - Beersma, Bianca
AU - Van Kleef, Gerben A.
AU - Gallucci, Marcello
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Gossip is condemned but also ubiquitous and thought to be essential for groups. This triggers the question of which motives explain gossip behavior. Hitherto, negative influence, social enjoyment, group protection, and information gathering and validation are established as motives to gossip. However, venting emotions-discussed as a potentially important motive-has been overlooked empirically. Furthermore, a lack of consensus about a definition of gossip may have affected previous conclusions about gossip motives. This study (N = 460) expands the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire (MGQ; Beersma and Van Kleef, 2012) by including a subscale measuring emotion venting, the desire to share emotionally evocative experiences. To validate the five motives to gossip across definitions, we asked participants to report the most recent gossip event they experienced, randomly assigning them to one of three instructions containing different gossip definitions commonly used in the literature: (1) broad instructions (sharing information about third parties who have no knowledge of the exchanged information), (2) narrower instructions (adding that the shared information must be evaluative), and (3) instructions using the word gossip. After participants recalled and described a gossip event, they completed the 25-item measure of five motives to gossip: social enjoyment, information gathering and validation, negative influence, group protection, and emotion venting. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-factor structure. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full invariance across the three definition conditions. This indicates the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire successfully measures the five dimensions argued to motivate gossip and can be applied in research conceptualizing gossip both narrowly and broadly.
AB - Gossip is condemned but also ubiquitous and thought to be essential for groups. This triggers the question of which motives explain gossip behavior. Hitherto, negative influence, social enjoyment, group protection, and information gathering and validation are established as motives to gossip. However, venting emotions-discussed as a potentially important motive-has been overlooked empirically. Furthermore, a lack of consensus about a definition of gossip may have affected previous conclusions about gossip motives. This study (N = 460) expands the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire (MGQ; Beersma and Van Kleef, 2012) by including a subscale measuring emotion venting, the desire to share emotionally evocative experiences. To validate the five motives to gossip across definitions, we asked participants to report the most recent gossip event they experienced, randomly assigning them to one of three instructions containing different gossip definitions commonly used in the literature: (1) broad instructions (sharing information about third parties who have no knowledge of the exchanged information), (2) narrower instructions (adding that the shared information must be evaluative), and (3) instructions using the word gossip. After participants recalled and described a gossip event, they completed the 25-item measure of five motives to gossip: social enjoyment, information gathering and validation, negative influence, group protection, and emotion venting. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-factor structure. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full invariance across the three definition conditions. This indicates the Motives to Gossip Questionnaire successfully measures the five dimensions argued to motivate gossip and can be applied in research conceptualizing gossip both narrowly and broadly.
KW - Confirmatory factor analysis
KW - Emotion venting
KW - Factorial validity
KW - Gossip definition
KW - Measurement invariance
KW - Motives to gossip
KW - Motives to gossip questionnaire
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068385610&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068385610&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01190
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01190
M3 - Article
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
SN - 1664-1078
IS - MAY
M1 - 1190
ER -