Leaders, for example, can mistakenly but brazenly stimulate conspiracy gossiping by engaging in cost cutting retrenchments. This organizational strategy has been frequently engaged in recent years. One of us [KW] was consulting for a long period of time with a prominent technology company. An announcement was made by a new senior executive about restructuring of the global business unit. Immediately, this stimulated questions about the potential for redundancies and lay-offs.
The senior executive emphatically stated that there would be no lay-offs, yet within three months extensive lay-offs were announced. This perceived deception caused a cascade of conspiracy gossiping which destroyed trust in this new leader and in the organization as a whole. The explosion of conspiracy theory gossiping that followed was massive as thousands of employees began to worry about their own careers as well as disbelieving their own divisional leaders. The amount of emotional energy and time spent on conspiratorial gossiping sapped productivity and damaged careers in this company.
How to Reduce the Risks Associated with Belief in Conspiracy Theories
The solution to problems that emerge from belief in conspiracy theories is difficult to identify and implement given the societal and human psychology-based etiology of these beliefs. However, as done in previous chapters, we move beyond analysis and offer some potential ways to take action that address the crisis just analyzed. The solution begins with recognition that when groups bond together and find meaning and purpose in these conspiracy theories, then attempting to demonstrate how ridiculous these beliefs are is, in essence, attacking their sense of self, and their group affinity. Often, no amount of fact-based convincing and scientific evidence from experts and leaders will penetrate that barrier. These individuals want and need to believe this conspiracy in order to feel connected with others, in control and with insights others do not have. However, based on the research, here are some short and long-term potential solutions.
Short-term
While people are obviously free to believe anything they want including conspiracy theories, they must be held accountable if acting on these beliefs causes damage and they break the law as a result. If conspiracy theory makers or believers cause damage as a result of these beliefs, they must be held accountable.
An example of this approach is the case of Jake Angeli, also known as the “QAnon Sharman” who was amongst the group that stormed the Capital on January 6th, 2021. The message sent in his prosecution is that it is ok to believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory, but it is not acceptable to justify breaking the law in its defense. Similarly, with the far-right conspiracy theorist creator, Alex Jones (noted above), propagating conspiracy theories that harm people could likely results in lawsuits.
Similar civil lawsuits have been successful in pushing back against right wing attacks on climate science. There is the successful case brought by climate scientist Michael Mann. He won a defamation case in the D.C. Superior Court against two conservative writers who called Mann’s work “fraudulent” and called Mann, who formerly worked at Penn State, the “Sandusky of climate science” (a reference to Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach and convicted child sex abuser). The conservative authors wrote that Mann had “molested and tortured data” to formulate his “hockey stick” theory. Mann sued Rand Simberg, a policy analyst, and Mark Steyn, a right-wing author, for online posts by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Review and was awarded one million dollars (Julia Simon, 2024).
Clearly, the hundreds of people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, based on conspiracy theories propagated by political leaders and their attorneys, will also be held accountable. There must be consequences for harmful acts based on belief in these conspiracy theories. In organizational settings, employees who foster conspiracy gossiping that damages productivity and undermines leadership credibility should be held accountable.
Long-term
We can address conspiracy theories by learning how to think analytically and critically. Education levels, and analytical thinking skills in particular, predict who is most likely to believe conspiracy theories: “People with high education are less likely than people with low education to believe in conspiracy theories” (National Institute of Health, nd2). As we have already noted, Jay Cullen (2018) observed that there are people who reject scientific expertise a priori and cannot be brought to change their opinion, even in the face of factual information from credible experts and leaders.
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