Emotional Consumption

The general framework of the Murtaza et al. study falls in the category of a “conservation of resources” model in the organizational literature. This model predicts that gossip leads to “emotional consumption” as employees use their energy at work to fend off hurt feelings.

Even though specific to the workplace, the conservation of resources model can also provide a useful approach to understanding how people react to negative gossip in their own ecosystems of family and friends.