Organizational literature has traditionally viewed negative gossip as a form of interpersonal deviance that can be shaped by justice perceptions. However, broader research reveals that gossip can also take positive forms, with both forms serving important social functions. Building on and extending social functional perspectives, we suggest that gossip is a unique and fundamental social behavior that can actively shape justice perceptions. We used an experimental design to examine the causal effects of gossiping behaviors on justice perceptions. More pointedly, we examined the mechanisms of confirmation bias and found that positive (negative) gossip increases (decreases) justice perceptions because gossipers seek and evaluate information in ways that are biased toward their pre-existing positive (negative) views about the gossip target. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
