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Gossip and Pro Social Behavior

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Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership (AHFE 2019)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 961))

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Abstract

Volunteerism is pro-social behavior that positively affects both society and the volunteers themselves. Gossip is also a pro-social behavior, but usually perceived as negative. This research focuses on the effect of pro-social attitudes, age, and gossip on pro-social behavior, and specifically on the intention to volunteer.

A mixed method design was employed, combining manual and automated classification methods. Predicated on data elicited from 598 respondents, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for convergent and discriminant validity were conducted. Path Analysis was used for goodness-of-fit analysis. The findings confirmed the hypotheses, suggesting that age, anti-gossip, and pro-social attitudes precede the intention to volunteer. Gossip was found to be perceived as negative despite its positive characteristics. This study represents an important attempt at determining the antecedents of the intention to volunteer as well as adding to our knowledge of gossip and refuting ageist stereotypes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ariel University, 40700, Ariel, Israel

    Eyal Eckhaus & Batia Ben-Hador

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  1. Eyal Eckhaus
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  2. Batia Ben-Hador
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Correspondence to Eyal Eckhaus .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production, University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Jussi Ilari Kantola

  2. University of South-Eastern Norway, Borre, Norway

    Salman Nazir

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Eckhaus, E., Ben-Hador, B. (2020). Gossip and Pro Social Behavior. In: Kantola, J., Nazir, S. (eds) Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership. AHFE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 961. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20154-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20154-8_8

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