Examination of the relationship between organizational gossip and workplace loneliness in a public institution

In this study, Workplace health psychology is supported and defended by psychologists, management scientists, sociologists and clinical psychology. Loneliness in the workplace has become a popular research topic in western occupational health psychology. Research on the spread of workplace loneliness of employees in our country is limited in number. Workplace loneliness, which is a common negative emotion in the workplace, leads to a number of negative effects at the level of working individuals and organizations. Currently in Turkey, the transformation of society and economic problems have brought many problems to the workplace. These problems will to some extent lead to the widespread feeling of loneliness in the workplace. Organizational gossip is considered as a way to express the feelings and thoughts of employees and to achieve positive results such as trust and support. Although organizational gossip is considered a manifestation of organizational culture and provides valuable information about the working environment in the organization, it has rarely been investigated in public institutions. One of the destructive consequences of organizational gossip is that the employee becomes lonely at work. Workplace loneliness can lead to many negative individual and organizational situations. This situation reduces the quality and satisfaction of the service provided to the citizen in public organizations. In this context, this research has been conducted in order to see the state of the relationship between organizational gossip and workplace loneliness in public organizations. For this purpose, the data obtained by face-to-face and online survey method from 147 people working in Tunceli Youth and Sports Provincial Directorate were subjected to analysis. As a result of the research, it has been found that workplace loneliness increases in high strength and in a positive direction as organizational gossip increases.. A number of suggestions have been presented to managers and those who will conduct in-depth research on this issue. Key Words: Gossip, Workplace Loneliness, Public Institutions