Designing a Qualitative Pattern of Gossip Management in the Context of Social Networks in the Iran's Government Organizations

Rumor management in the context of social networks for government organizations is very important in order to maintain the organization's reputation and improve its performance. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of designing a qualitative pattern of rumor management in the context of social networks in the Iranian government organizations.

The current research in terms of purpose was applied and in terms of its implementation method was qualitative. The research population was experts in the field of public administration and organizational behavior in the field of research. The sample of the present study according to the principle of theoretical saturation was estimated to be 15 people which this number was selected by the purposeful sampling method and they were subjected to semi-structured interviews, and its validity was confirmed by the triangulation method and its reliability was estimated by the Cohen's kappa coefficient method 0.719. Data were analyzed by coding method in MAXQDA-2020 software.

The findings of this research indicated that 95 open codes, 5 core codes and 2 selective codes were identified for rumor management in the context of social networks in the Iranian government organizations. In this study, the selected codes were included the malicious rumors with three core codes of bad feelings, rumor transmission and thinking power, and innocent rumors with two core codes of trust building and reference support. Finally, the output of the software was drawn for the qualitative pattern of rumor management in the context of social networks in the Iranian government organizations.

Based on the findings of the present research, the managers of Iranian government organizations can prevent their destructive effect on the advancement of the organization's goals by managing malicious rumors and innocent rumors.