Behind the mask : quiet quitting, trust and deception in the Indian hospitality industry

Purpose The study explores how quiet quitting affects Indian hospitality employees' perceived ability to deceive (PAD), testing affective trust and moral resilience (MR) as moderators, drawing on the affective events theory (AET), the JD-R model and moral resilience theory. Design/methodology/approach Survey methodology was used to collect data from 668 frontline employees across 37 Indian hotel chains, using validated measures of quiet quitting, PAD, affective trust and MR, which were analysed via hierarchical moderated regression and slope difference tests. Findings The data findings show that quiet quitting is strongly associated with deceptive behaviour, which intensifies when affective trust and MR are both low, underscoring the need to foster a culture that curbs deception. Practical implications MR represents a context-specific moderator against quiet quitting; hence, the study recommends structured resilience training and formal ethics frameworks to curb disengagement-driven deception. Originality/value Moral resiliencies positioned as a moderator conditional on affective trust, integrating AET and JD-R theory to explain quiet quitting's effect on deception in Indian hospitality.