An Investigation of the Mediating Role of Organizational Trust in the Relationship between Work Rumination and Organizational Dissent

ABSTRACT

Employees often spend a significant amount of time ruminating over their daily working experiences. Such rumination triggered by work events may have profound influences on employees’ behaviors and perceptions about their organization. The current study investigates how work rumination may alter employee dissent behaviors through the mediating role of organizational trust. Results from a sample of employees recruited through Qualtrics (N = 397) indicate that both positive and negative rumination leads to increased employee dissent. In addition, organizational trust is a significant mediator in the relationship between work rumination and articulated dissent. Findings of the current study suggest organizations need to take an active role in shaping employees’ everyday working experiences. Further implications and limitations are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational dissent
• organizational trust
• work rumination
• Work–family spillover

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2022.2089190

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Cheng Zeng

Cheng Zeng (Ph.D., University of Jyväskylä, 2018) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at North Dakota State University. He is interested is in examining organizational behaviors, including organizational dissent, organizational assimilation, and workplace freedom of speech in different cultural settings.

Diyako Rahmani

Diyako Rahmani (Ph.D., University of Jyväskylä, 2017) is a senior lecturer (Assistant Professor) of communication at Massey University. He teaches courses in intercultural and interpersonal communication, communication competence, and media studies. His research is mainly focused on self-disclosure and compliance with privacy regulations in online communication. Due to his ethnic background, Kurdish studies is also another area of his research.

Blessing Okafor

Blessing Ekene, Okafor (M.Sc., North Dakota State University, 2019) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at University of Missouri, Columbia. Her research focuses on Organizational culture, Organizational dissent, and work place communication.