Moral disengagement of hotel guest negative WOM: Moral identity centrality, moral awareness, and anger

•We examine how moral identity centrality affects moral disengagement.•Moral identity centrality has a negative impact on moral disengagement of vindictive negative WOM.•Moral awareness enhances the negative impact of moral identity centrality.•Anger has a positive impact on moral disengagement especially when moral awareness is low.•Anger reduces the negative impact of moral identity centrality, when moral awareness is low.

Adopting a moral identity perspective, this research examines the moral judgment of hotel guests’ vindictive negative word of mouth (WOM) toward hotel service failure. This research finds that people with higher moral identity centrality are less prone to moral disengagement of vindictive negative WOM, especially when their moral awareness of the behavior is higher. However, even these individuals may engage in moral disengagement of vindictive negative WOM, if they have higher anger toward the service failure, and when their moral awareness is lower. These findings highlight the significant roles of moral identity centrality, moral awareness, and moral emotion for people’s moral judgment. Practically, this research suggests hotels may manage customer vindictive negative WOM by raising moral awareness and appeasing anger.