The social practice of workplace gossip has many implications for organizations and members. By using LMX theory, this study investigated positive and negative gossip types and their association with relational quality with supervisors and coworkers. Patterns of findings suggest a contagious quality of both forms of workplace gossip, such that positive supervisor gossip is highly related to positive coworker gossip; meanwhile, negative supervisor gossip is highly related to negative coworker gossip. Additionally, this study demonstrated a positive relationship between LMX and positive gossip as well as a positive relationship between perceived LMX injustice and negative gossip. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Modern workplace demographics are changing and so too are workplace relationships. This research explores the impact of poor leader relationships on voice behaviors—more specifically, defensive silence. Results indicate a negative relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and defensive silence, a positive relationship between communicative anxiety and defensive silence, and a negative relationship between communicative anxiety and LMX. Additionally, a significant interaction is found between age, years of supervisory experience, LMX, and defensive silence. Theoretical and practical implications for workplace relationships are discussed.