From Victim to Perpetrator: The Cascading Impact of Perceived Negative Workplace Gossip on Hospitality Employees

Drawing on cognitive dissonance and social identity theories, this study examined how and why perceived negative workplace gossip influenced the counterproductive behavior of hospitality employees at work. Using time-lag data collected from hospitality workers in Vietnam, the findings revealed that moral disengagement mediated the negative impact of workplace gossip on counterproductive work behavior. It is also found that workplace friendship moderated the indirect effect that workplace gossip had on moral disengagement, and that this mediating effect was more pronounced when the friendship was stronger. The implications of the findings are provided for hospitality researchers and practitioners.