Exploring online deviant behaviour: a study on the impact of internet anonymity on tourists’ exaggerated comments

Xinhua Guan, Jinhong Gong, Yingchen Zheng and Tzung-Cheng Huan

Current Issues in Tourism, 2025, vol. 28, issue 7, 1155-1171

Abstract: The research objectives of this paper are to analyze the role of internet anonymity in customers’ publication of exaggerated online reviews, explore the potential processes of moral disengagement, and study possible moderating and mediating factors. To achieve these objectives, this study conducts a questionnaire survey among 530 internet users and perform regression analysis to test the research model. This test results reveal that internet anonymity has a positive impact on exaggerated online reviews through two moral disengagement mechanisms: advantageous comparison and distorting consequences. Moral identity not only negatively moderates the effect of internet anonymity on advantageous comparison and distorting consequences but also negatively moderates the mediating role of advantageous comparison and distorting consequences between internet anonymity and exaggerated online reviews. This research enriches the findings in the field of fake reviews and value co-destruction in the tourism sector and offers insights for relevant regulatory agencies to improve the online environment.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2024.2353329

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