Bui, Anh Minh JessicaZhu, DanKim, Peter B2026-05-242026-05-242026-03-11Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, ISSN: 1938-9655 (Print); 1938-9663 (Online), SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1177/193896552614273861938-96551938-9663http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21203<jats:p>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.</jats:p>© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/3504 Commercial Services3505 Human Resources and Industrial Relations35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services3507 Strategy, Management and Organisational BehaviourBehavioral and Social Science1504 Commercial Services1505 Marketing3506 Marketingperceive negative workplace gossipcounterproductive behaviorsmoral disengagementworkplace friendshiptime-lag datamoderated mediation analysisJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1177/19389655261427386