Drawing the curtain

Abstract

Every day, employees experience moments where they must decide how much of their private lives they want known to others. Sometimes, these moments are triggered by questionnaires from their company or organizational researchers. Other times, these moments come in the form of break room conversations. In all these moments, employees face the dilemma of how much personal information to share. Traditionally, the disclosure of personal information has been treated as self-initiated behavior. However, it is unclear how employees respond when others prompt them to share information considered private. To investigate this phenomenon, I first conducted an inductive study to identify the characteristics of workplace conversations about personal information. Second, drawing from the identity management, privacy, and stress appraisal literatures, I used an experience sampling methodology to examine how employees interpret and respond to these conversations. I recruited from across the United States 128 full-time employees who completed daily surveys over 16 workdays. Findings showed that conversations pertaining to sacred (i.e., meaningful) topics were more likely to elicit revealing responses, whereas conversations pertaining to out-of-bounds (i.e., inappropriate) topics were more likely to elicit concealing responses. Findings also showed that revealing responses were more likely to have positive relational outcomes, but concealing responses were more likely to have negative emotional and cognitive outcomes that persisted throughout the day. This research extends theorizing about identity management by examining reactive forms of disclosing information and expanding the conceptualization of what kinds of personal information employees are likely to protect. It also extends workplace privacy research by investigating interpersonal and informal requests for personal information. Further, this research has practical relevance as it indicates that managers should monitor and influence appropriate norms surrounding personal conversations in order to foster team building and avoid emotional and cognitive distractions.