Online moral disengagement and hostile emotions in discussions on hosting immigrants

Purpose The present work aims to explore the ‘dark nuances’ of social media by identifying moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms and hostile emotions in people discussing the hosting of immigrants and examining the relationship between moral disengagement mechanisms and hostile emotions expressed online (annoyance, irritation and contempt). Design/methodology/approach The present work aims to explore the ‘dark nuances’ of social media by identifying moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms and hostile emotions in people discussing the hosting of immigrants and examining the relationship between moral disengagement mechanisms and hostile emotions expressed online (annoyance, irritation and contempt). Findings The main findings show an interplay between different hostile negative emotions and online moral disengagement mechanisms. The greater the intensity of hostile emotions, the more the locus of disengagement moves from the unethical individual's behaviour – for example, offering moral justifications – to the t...