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When are Consumers Motivated to Connect with Ethical Brands? The Roles of Guilt and Moral Identity Importance
Abstract
This research adds to the growing literature on what draws consumers to ethical brands. Findings from three studies demonstrate that guilt motivates consumers to connect with ethical brands, especially those consumers with high levels of moral identity importance (MII). Specifically, Study 1 finds that consumers report stronger self-brand connections (SBCs) with an ethical brand when they feel guilty (vs. control). Study 2 finds that guilt particularly motivates consumers with high MII to report stronger SBCs with an ethical (vs. unethical) brand. In turn, these strong connections lead to increased intentions to purchase the ethical brand. Finally, Study 3 finds evidence for the proposed motivation-based process explanation by showing that high MII consumers’ propensity to connect with ethical brands when feeling guilty (vs. control) is attenuated when these consumers are first given the opportunity to donate to a charitable cause to alleviate their guilt. Overall, the findings suggest that ethical brands can foster strong connections with and elicit higher purchase intentions from consumers seeking ways to alleviate their guilt.
... In recent years, numerous studies have addressed consumption and marketing as a morally tinged issue, and have examined consumer morality, the impact of companies' moral actions on consumer choice, and the strategic use of moral associations to impact consumers (Grayson, 2014;S. M. Hassan et al., 2022;Kuokkanen & Sun, 2020;McGregor, 2006;Newman & Trump, 2017;Shaw et al., 2005). ...
... Moral associations may also impact brand evaluations. Beyond the inherently moral (or immoral) aspects of marketing and consumption, associating products with moral philosophies or ideologies can affect consumer perceptions of specific products and brand evaluations (Carrington et al., 2015;Henry, 2010;Lafferty et al., 2004;Newman & Trump, 2017;Singh et al., 2012). When brands clash with consumer attitudes, consumers may evaluate them more adversely (Amar et al., 2018;Filieri et al., 2021;. ...
... When brands clash with consumer attitudes, consumers may evaluate them more adversely (Amar et al., 2018;Filieri et al., 2021;. Conversely, engaging in actions consumers morally support may improve attitudes toward the brand or elicit more brand fidelity (Lafferty et al., 2004;Newman & Trump, 2017). Behaviors such as unethical sales practices can also lead to negative attitudes toward a company as a whole (Ramsey et al., 2007;Román, 2003). ...
Can moral associations linked with food products harm hedonic consumption experience? Across four studies, we show that moral associations linked to food that clash with values (racism and animal welfare) held by today's ethical consumers can engender moral disgust, which in turn undermines both expected and actual taste experience. The studies contribute to the literature by showing that associations impact consumption experience even in the absence of concrete actions, and by revealing moral disgust as the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. Importantly, this effect was observed even when the moral associations involved racism or sustainability (e.g., animal welfare), which have no direct relationship to product quality. This reveals that mere moral associations, rather than quality associations, influence hedonic consumption experience, rather than quality associations. More broadly, the findings point to the ways in which extrinsic attributes affect product experience and evaluation, particularly in hedonic consumption. This may be particularly impactful for values clashing with those championed by ethical consumers. From a practical perspective, these studies provide a broader perspective on corporate social responsibility by showing that companies should exercise caution when exploiting the moral associations linked to their products.
... In particular, when people feel powerless, they seek power through status-related consumption (Rucker and Galinsky 2008). In addition, consumption activities, such as connecting with ethical brands, can compensate for and repair the negative emotional state of guilt (Dahl et al. 2003;Newman and Trump 2017). Taken together, these findings suggest that brands may provide a compensatory role for consumers to regulate their emotional experiences. ...
... We predict that, when consumers are experiencing these unpleasant emotions (boredom, anxiety), they will be drawn to brands with opposing pleasant personalities (exciting, calm). Furthermore, following research on goals and motivation (e.g., Fishbach and Dhar 2005;Newman and Trump 2017), we predict that motivation is the psychological process underlying this effect, such that the motivation to pursue the goal of repairing an unpleasant emotion will be attenuated when consumers have already made progress toward that goal. Thus, consumers should (not) be drawn to opposing pleasant brand personalities to alleviate an unpleasant emotion when they have not (have) already had an opportunity to repair their unpleasant emotion through alternative means. ...
... Our findings extend streams of research on brand personalities (e.g., Aaker 1997) and consumer emotion regulation (e.g., Garg et al. 2007;Newman and Trump 2017) by revealing that consumers use pleasant brand personalities to repair unpleasant emotions. This is unique in comparison with the majority of consumer research on emotion regulation, which typically focuses on acts of consumption as a means to repair unpleasant emotions (e.g., unhealthful eating; Garg et al. 2007). ...
People prefer to experience pleasant (vs. unpleasant) emotions and thus will take actions to repair unpleasant emotions. In addition, consumers perceive brands as possessing personality characteristics. This research demonstrates that consumers experiencing unpleasant emotions are attracted to brands with opposing, pleasant personalities as a means to repair their emotions. Studies 1a and 1b find that consumers respond more favorably to an exciting brand when they are motivated to repair the unpleasant emotional state of boredom (1a) and that a reduction in boredom in response to the exciting brand drives this effect (1b). Study 2 extends this finding by showing that anxious consumers are motivated to respond more favorably to a calm brand to repair their anxiety. In both cases, the effects only hold when participants are not first given the opportunity to alleviate their unpleasant emotion, thus providing evidence that motivation is the process driving consumers to respond more favorably to brands with pleasant personalities.
... In addition to guilt's effect on pro-environmental intentions, it also has a significant impact on behaviors. Research shows that guilt regulates sustainable consumption decisions (Gans & Groves, 2012), hinders consumers' neutralization efforts (Antonetti & Maklan, 2014b), and prompts consumers to identify with ethical brands (Newman & Trump, 2017). In addition, recent research elaborated on consumers' tendency to experience guilt, also known as guilt proneness, over ethical consumption decisions, indicating that consumers who are predisposed to feeling guilty abstain from engaging in unethical behavior (Arli, Leo, & Tjiptono, 2016). ...
... Notably, the literature highlights the prognostic effect of attitudes, social norms, and high moral identity on guilt (Newman & Trump, 2017;Onwezen et al., 2014aOnwezen et al., , 2014b. In addition, Antonetti and Maklan (2014a) emphasized the role of numerous factors that influence social norms such as moral relevance and social visibility of the consumption decision, which in turn has a significant effect on guilt. ...
... In view of that, the previous sections highlight a lack of diversity, and contextual inconsistencies, with regard to these factors. First, when inspecting the form of guilt, the majority of research utilized reactive guilt (Allard & White, 2015;Antonetti & Maklan, 2014aDahl et al., 2005;Goldsmith et al., 2012;Hanks & Mattila, 2014;Miao, 2011;Newman & Trump, 2017;Saintives & Lunardo, 2016;Soscia, 2007) followed by anticipatory guilt (Onwezen et al., 2013;Onwezen et al., 2014aOnwezen et al., , 2014bSteenhaut & Van Kenhove, 2006;Theotokis & Manganari, 2015) while no research has examined existential guilt. ...
... Most recently, Newman and Trump (2017) suggest that reducing such guilt is a particularly important motivation for consumers with high moral identity importance. ...
... and communicating. This corresponds to Newman and Trump's (2017) finding that consumers with high moral identity importance often consume products from ethical brands in order to reduce personal feelings of guilt. In the context of Maisie's case, however, it appears that she engaged in 'extra' ethical activities in order to reduce her personal ethical anxieties. ...
... Josh's extract highlights the importance of "personal guilt" (e.g. Antonetti & Maklan, 2014;Chatzidakis, 2015;Newman and Trump, 2017), and how a sense of personal answerability is much more influential (to him) in reducing malpractice than an externally imposed rule of general best practice. What is most interesting is the way in which Josh refined his aforementioned initial views (e.g. ...
This thesis examines consumers’ ethical agency within the responsible tourism experience. It aligns with a post-structuralist, (late) Foucauldian position, adopting the theoretical constructs of ‘power struggles’ (1982), ‘problematisations’ (1984a) and ‘self-care practices’ (1984c) to engender a more fluid view of the market-consumer interface. It investigates (i) how consumers conform to, critique or resist market-promulgated ways of being a ‘responsible tourist’; (ii) how consumers (re)negotiate alternative meanings of how to be ethical and act ethically; (iii) what this reveals about the ways in which consumers retain, apportion or relinquish a sense of autonomy over their ethicality; and (iv) the tensions, struggles and dilemmas that consumers concurrently face. The thesis adopts a participative methodology in order to foster the involvement of participants across the total tourism experience. More specifically, the thesis conducts a PARTicipative inquiry in order to facilitate data collection before, during and after the holiday; enabling ‘prospective’, ‘active’ and ‘reflective’ triangulation (Ingram et al, 2017). To this end, the thesis presents data from participants’ pre-holiday and post-holiday interviews, as well as their (on-holiday) diaries and photographs. The findings of this thesis suggest that consumers’ ethical agency manifests in three main ways. Agency is represented through a critical awareness of the rhetorical construction of ‘responsibility’ within three types of market-consumer interface, namely ethical tourism spaces, ethical policies and market materials. Agency is also represented through consumers’ resistance towards three key areas of the organised tourism industry, specifically large corporations (e.g. chain hotels, international franchises), the tourism ‘package’, and tourism ‘hotspots’. Further, agency is represented through consumers’ self-reflexivity. Tourists are highly introspective of the ways in which they transform personal ethical reflection into action (‘walk the talk’); the ways in which they reflect on ethics but are unwilling to make any material alterations to their behaviour (‘reflexive inertia’); and the personal, product, and destination level considerations that impede their engagement in certain ethical practices (‘pragmatic utility’). Overall, this thesis aims to contribute to existing literature by fulfilling four research gaps. First, it focusses on the practices and narratives of responsible tourists, as opposed to the ‘responsibility’ discourses of travel companies (e.g. Caruana & Crane, 2008; Hanna, 2013). Second, it attends to the current lack of Foucauldian ethics within the consumer responsibility and responsible tourism literatures (Crane et al, 2008). Third, it progresses from studying the ethical consumption of commodity goods to focus on experiential consumption; specifically, highly performative experiential consumption in a potentially environmentally and socio-culturally disparate context to the ‘home’ setting (e.g. Jamal, 2004). Finally, it focusses on the total responsible experience by triangulating tourists’ prospective, active and reflective data. This thesis also has important practical implications. A stronger awareness of how tourists experience responsible tourism will better enable the tourism industry to tailor their products, services and spaces in a way which more effectively matches consumer demand. Further, an improved understanding of how consumers evaluate discourses on ‘responsibility’ will inform the tourism industry as to how responsible policies, guidebooks and other marketing messages are interpreted, and thereby constructed and communicated.
... Several morality studies have investigated the concept through a consumer psychology lens (Brebels et al., 2011), examining aspects like moral identity and moral judgment (Newman & Trump, 2017;Xie & Bagozzi, 2019). However, they rarely consider morality from a branding perspective or clarify whether morality and ethics are similar or different concepts. ...
... Conversely, brands that fail to evidence their "care" properties will likely be perceived as egoistic and lacking compassion, leading to lower customer satisfaction, trust, and likelihood of recommendation (Newman & Trump, 2017). ...
Today's consumers expect brands to act morally to win their hearts and wallets. Yet, existing marketing literature provides little clarity on what this behavior entails and how it differs from acting ethically. This study aims to clarify these concepts and inspire further research. Our consumer‐centric research adopted a multi‐theory and multi‐method approach, coupling Moral Foundations with Morality as Cooperation theories, 12 in‐depth interviews and three surveys with 1229 respondents from two opposite national cultures. We present a Brand Morality scale involving three meaningful dimensions: brand care, brand compliance and brand competency. Brand care is more influential in establishing a moralistic image than the other dimensions. We also learn that while consumers from different national cultures may value the same set of BM dimensions on a cognitive level, they may interpret and react differently on a behavioral‐intent level. Our unique contributions include (i) presenting a 12‐item Brand Morality scale that is theoretically meaningful and practically applicable to brands, (ii) demonstrating the co‐utility of two under‐considered theories, (iii) clarifying the nuanced distinctions of brands acting morally versus ethically, and (iv) shedding light on consumers' perceptual definitions of BM may be consistent between nations, but their behavioral interpretations may vary depending on their local cultures.
... Another definition from Zizek (2017, p. 202) presents shame as an external, normative emotion, and guilt as internalized: "I am ashamed when the (public) Other sees me in my nudity […] guilt, on the contrary, is independent of how others see me, what they talk about me: I am guilty in myself." This coheres with the perspective that guilt-prone individuals have violated their expectations of themselves, indicating a "moral failure" (Newman & Trump, 2017) or "an internal acknowledgment of an unpaid psychological debt" (Hochschild, 1983, p. 82). Literature on social psychology also points out to gendered experiences of guilt (Cohen et al., 2012). ...
... Our research also contributes a conceptual analysis of guilt, work ethics, care ethics, gender, and notions of an ideal worker. We found that although guilt relates to internal expectations of oneself (Newman & Trump, 2017;Zizek, 2017), it is also impacted by culture, society, gender, and power dynamics. Guilt related to care and work seemed exacerbated by gender norms; yet in our study, workers who were not women were still affected a devaluation of care related to an entrenched association between care and women. ...
This article explores care workers and working carers' experiences of work. It focuses on how both groups of workers experience pressures to adhere to an ideal, which this article argues, is centered on an emotional reaction of guilt. Through this ideal of a guilty worker, a “care ethic” is reconfigured to become a “work ethic.” Drawing on 120 semistructured interviews with care workers, working carers, trade union officers, and care company managers, the article examines how guilt is experienced and constructed in the workplace, and how it becomes beneficial to the aims of the employing organization. The article links the construction and instrumentalization of guilt to Acker's analysis of the ideal worker and to the problematic discourse of the “heroism” of key workers during the Covid‐19 pandemic. This discourse can reinforce the image of a sacrificial ideal worker; it implies that if workers do not take a sacrificial approach as part of their work and care ethics, they should feel guilty.
... Importantly, our research findings likely extend beyond implications for donation behavior to other consumer behaviors that are beneficial for society. Those with low MII have been shown to be disinterested in brands with sustainable business practices (Newman and Trump, 2017). However, these brands, which are good for society, might be more appealing to those with low MII if brand messaging focused on the positive impact that an individual can have, which has been shown to improve some consumers' responses to sustainable brands (Newman and Trump, 2023), or if the messaging encouraged consumers to focus on themselves. ...
Purpose
This research aims to identify how resistant individuals can be persuaded to support a charitable cause. Prosocial acts, like supporting a charitable cause, are an important part of human behavior and yet it is not fully understood how to encourage particularly resistant individuals, like those with low moral identity importance (MII), to support a worthy cause.
Design/methodology/approach
Two between-participants experiments examined how those with low MII’s willingness to support a fundraiser is affected by the relative impact they perceive their contribution to have.
Findings
Those with low MII are persuaded to support a fundraiser when they believe their contribution will have an impact. Study 1 finds that inducing those with low MII with a high (vs low) self-focus increases their perceptions of their donation’s efficacy, which increases their likelihood of spreading the word about the fundraiser. Study 2 then demonstrates that those with low MII are more likely to spread the word about the fundraiser and to donate when others are donating a low (vs high) amount, and this is mediated by their perceptions of relatively high (vs low) donation efficacy.
Originality/value
Prior research has primarily focused on those with high MII. This research contributes to the literature by focusing on donation impact as a strategy to persuade particularly resistant individuals (i.e. those with low MII) to engage in charitable behaviors.
... 2.1 Product characteristics as a motive for ethical consumption Ethical consumers prefer companies or products that do not harm the environment and animals, that are known for their excellent working conditions and support society and social justice. These individuals do not only demand social responsibility from companies; many of them follow an ethical consumption style with moral principles and standards (Carolan, 2022;Carrington et al., 2016;Connolly and Shaw, 2006;Han and Stoel, 2017;Khatib et al., 2005;McDonald et al., 2009;Newman and Trump, 2017;Powers and Hopkins, 2006;Schamp et al., 2019;Shaw et al., 2005). They are not just individuals looking out for their own interest in better prices, safety, and quality, but can also take collective and activist action to boycott or punish unethical companies while rewarding ethical companies (Carrington et al., 2014;Chan et al., 2008;McDonald et al., 2012;Uusitalo and Oksanen, 2004). ...
Purpose
The present study aims to explore ethical consumption of Millennials and Generation Z and the effect of eWOM on their purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was employed to test research hypotheses based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), examining the effects of attitudes and subjective norms. Additionally, the study assessed the impact of product characteristics and consumer awareness of ethical characteristics on purchase intention and eWOM.
Findings
Results reveal no significant differences between Millennials and Generation Z regarding purchase intention. However, Generation Z significantly drives the spread of eWOM. Notably, Generation Z's attitudes towards products from socially responsible and environmentally sustainable companies significantly influence eWOM creation, suggesting a potential new research direction.
Research limitations/implications
This study is also subject to some limitations, which the researchers must point out and which may lead to further research. First, it should be emphasized that the study used a convenient sample, but the study is geographically limited in terms of its significance and the generations analyzed. For this reason, the generalization of the results should be done with caution. In addition, as the exogenous independent variables investigated in this study are limited to a number of different factors that influence the consumption of sustainable products, such as the company's reputation, the perceptual ability of the public to distinguish whether the actions of brands actually serve society or whether they are unrelated actions, as well as the personality and socio-cultural background of consumers can be included in future research. In addition, studies can be conducted to identify subgroups with different motivations among both Millennials and Generation Z and diagnose different market segments that could further confirm the findings.
Practical implications
Based on these findings, brands can develop their social network strategy by emphasizing the environmental and social attributes of their products, services, and benefits. It is also important to undertake initiatives linked to strong sustainability practices and information campaigns to form a positive attitude among consumers and strengthen their purchasing behavior. Particular attention should also be paid to the regular control of the effectiveness and impact of the messages to achieve the greatest public involvement.
Social implications
Brands must focus on developing successful strategies to strengthen employer branding through a positive work experience, the creation of jobs related to sustainability, the correct application of ESG criteria in all departments involved, the adaptation of training programs, and the corresponding promotion of all these practices that lead to positive eWOM to obtain a competitive advantage (Clementino and Perkins 2021).
Originality/value
This study contributes theoretically and practically to the understanding of ethical consumption. It provides valuable insights for brands to enhance their social network strategies by highlighting the environmental and social characteristics of their products. By emphasizing these practices, companies can effectively engage Millennials and Generation Z, leveraging their influence to promote ethical consumption and gain a competitive advantage in the market.
... Negotiators themselves can also become moral symbols by cultivating a reputation as desirable partners in existing business relationships through respectful and value-oriented interactions. An ethical reputation can extend not only to individual persons but also to an entire brand or company if organizations succeed in portraying a responsible image to stakeholders through continuous brand communication and a coordinated brand presence (including the operational level) [116,117]. The trend toward establishing morally charged brand cores is already evident in numerous companies, as reflected in philosophies such as "Pioneers at heart for the good of generations" [118] or "A decent way of conducting business is ultimately the most profitable" [119]. ...
As the landscape of negotiation ethics continues to evolve, it reflects significant shifts in societal attitudes and organizational priorities. A mere decade ago, the prevailing sentiment toward the legitimacy of unethical negotiation tactics was more lenient, with a common acceptance of occasional lies and deceptions as commonplace. However, the contemporary perspective on this matter is notably more nuanced. As companies increasingly embrace ethical considerations through compliance and corporate social responsibility, the scrutiny of negotiation tactics for their ethical correctness has intensified. To address this societal and, as a consequence, organizational change, our study presents the concept of priming as a strategic tool for promoting ethical conduct in organizational practice. By strategically activating memory content related to ethics, the research seeks to enhance ethical awareness in business negotiations. Through a systematic literature review, the study explores the suitability of different forms of priming in various negotiation contexts and examines practical ways of priming for ethical negotiation behavior. The findings suggest that ethics-based priming in negotiations holds promise for fostering fairness and honesty, presenting viable pathways for integration into negotiation practices.
... According to Newman & Trump (2015), moral identity is relatively stable over time, and academics point out that it is influenced by various elements that may affect it in terms of leading an individual to act morally, such as previous values and experiences. ...
Objectives: This study investigated the level of moral identity and cyberbullying among students of Al-Hussein Bin Talal University and determines if there are differences in moral identity based on factors such as gender, academic level, college, and interactions between these factors. It also aims to reveal the predictive ability of moral identity of cyberbullying. Methods: The study sample consisted of (328) male and female students at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. They were chosen using a convenience sampling method. In addition, scales of moral identification and cyberbullying measures were utilised to achieve the goals of this study. Results: The results indicated that cyberbullying was low, and that moral identity was at a medium degree. The findings also demonstrated significant gender-related differences in the level of moral identity favouring females. However, the variables of college, and academic level did not significantly affect the level of moral identity, nor did their interaction produce any significant differences. Additionally, the findings indicated that moral identity explained 16.5% of online bullying. Conclusions: The study recommended focusing on strategies and programmes that emphasise values and the practice of ethical behaviour to support the formation of moral identity among university students, particularly among males.
... However, high moral identifiers will donate to be certain about their personal morality (Sachdeva, Iliev, and Medin 2009), to align with their particular values regarding the need to act morally and to avoid the strong ethical dissonance they would suffer if they violated their moral goals (Mulder and Aquino 2013). Thus, they would be motivated to restore their moral self by acting morally the next time they have an opportunity (Newman and Trump 2017). ...
When consumers become aware of their inconsistent ethical behavior, they experience ethical dissonance and attempt to rationalize their past misconduct through neutralization techniques. This article examines post-neutralization behavior: whether neutralization prompts participants who have refused to donate to one campaign to rectify their moral lapse by donating to a subsequent campaign. Materialism and moral identity are shown to interact within individuals. Three studies demonstrate that, in the absence of neutralization, consumers with higher levels of materialism donate more to subsequent causes regardless of their moral identity levels, while those with lower materialism donate more when they have high moral identity. Neutralization prevents this compensatory behavior and decreases donations from highly materialistic consumers. They only donate more when they also have high moral identity. This research examines a series of environmental campaigns for fundraising on social media to explore post-transgression and post-neutralization behavior.
... For example, a sufficiently desirable identity (e.g., athlete) can actually make an identity-relevant food product (e.g., Gatorade) subjectively taste better (Tal, Gvili, & Amar, 2022). High importance of moral identity may make consumers seek more ethical brands when they feel guilty (Newman & Trump, 2017). ...
With over 1,700 articles on the topic in the past 5 years alone, consumer identity is established as a critical psychological driver of behavior in the marketplace. This chapter reviews all identity research in the top 20 marketing journals from 2017-2022 and integrates it into a single unifying framework: the Multiple-Identity Network. This integration answers several fundamental questions: What is consumer identity? What is the psychological structure of identity? How do consumers manage multiple identities within their self-concept (e.g., race, gender)? Key takeaways include the importance of brands and other marketplace actors in shaping stereotypes that define identities, psychological relationships between identities (e.g., dissimilarities), and balancing needs across multiple identities (e.g., status vs. belonging needs). Further topics include intersectionality, social hierarchy, stigma, marginalization, diversity marketing, target marketing, autonomy, self-brand connection, and online brand communities.
... Thus, marketers could design advertisements or post-consumption feedback to increase a sense of agency in men. For example, marketers could give consumers feedback on their energy use to directly influence states of pride or guilt, as these states have been shown to increase a sense of agency and drive sustainable consumption behaviors (Antonetti and Maklan 2014;Newman and Trump 2017). ...
It is in society’s best interest for people to consume sustainably. However, some consumers are less likely to do so, with men (vs. women) being more resistant to engaging in sustainable consumption. This research explores this eco-gender gap by identifying methods to improve men’s responses (brand attitudes and self-brand connections) to sustainable brands. Three experiments demonstrate that men (self-identified) respond more favorably to sustainable brands when they feel powerful or have a sense of sustainability self-efficacy, meaning they believe their sustainable actions can have a positive societal impact. Study 1 finds that men respond more favorably to sustainable brands when experiencing a high (vs. low) sense of power, and this is mediated by their perceptions of sustainability self-efficacy. Study 2 demonstrates that a high (vs. low) sense of sustainability self-efficacy increases men’s responses to sustainable brands even when their sense of power is low. Study 3 confirms that the positive effect of power on men’s responses to sustainable brands only emerges for sustainable, not conventional brands. These findings indicate that promoting sustainable consumption among men should focus on making them feel powerful and/or capable of making a positive societal impact.
... For example, moral identity positively influences consumers' perceptions of corporate charitable donations (Reed et al., 2007). Owing to guilt, consumers with a strong moral identity are more likely to establish associations with ethical brands (Newman and Trump, 2017). Moral identity increases consumers' propensity to choose green products or strive for green consumption (Wu and Yang, 2018). ...
Existing studies show that moral identity promotes green consumption, but its influence mechanism and boundary conditions remain unidentified. However, moral identity includes internalization and symbolization, which affect green consumption in different ways. Advertising goal framing also has an impact on green consumption. Existing studies often focus on moral identity internalization but neglect the role of moral identity symbolization and fail to fully consider the interaction, mechanism, and boundary conditions between moral identity and advertising goal framing. This study assumes that advertising goal framing includes both intrinsic and extrinsic goals. We attempt to verify the combined influence of internalization and symbolization of moral identity, advertising goal framing, and moral awareness on green purchasing intention. Through two experiments, we found that: (1) the internalization and symbolization of moral identity can promote consumers’ green purchasing intention; (2) consumers with high internalization of moral identity have more positive responses to intrinsic goal advertising; (3) moral awareness can enhance the combined influence of moral identity internalization and intrinsic goal advertising on consumers’ green purchasing intention; and (4) self-consistency and social approval mediate the combined impact of moral identity and advertising goal framing on consumers’ green purchasing intention. This study enriches the literature on the influence of moral identity on green consumption. Businesses can also draw on these findings to improve the effectiveness of green marketing.
... Several studies indicate that guilt is a regulating feeling for pro-environmental behaviour and empathy. In these cases, "green" consumption helps consumers to not feel guilty and to move away from hedonistic consumption, or it plays a key role in regret, it being understood that it is a "guilt-free" consumption practice, central to consumers' moral identity (Beserra de Lima, Ribeiro, and Rocha 2019;Newman and Trump 2017;Antonetti and Maklan 2014). Other work has found that "green" consumption acts as a compensatory regulator of consumers' dissonance and anticipatory guilt (Gregory-Smith, Smith, and Winklhofer 2013). ...
The aim of this article is to explore social discourse on "green" consumption in Spain by analysing how guilt and logic of practice are involved in this type of consumption from a psycho-sociological perspective. The empirical work was qualitative: we analysed 14 focus groups and nine interviews with "green" and "non-green" consumers from different social backgrounds. The results show that "green" consumption involves a dual process of social differentiation and guilt, especially in "greener" consumers from middle and middle-upper class social backgrounds, whose discourse is developed in socio-environmental terms. These findings question whether "green" consumption is an effective element within a transformative environmental policy. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Additionally, Green & Peloza (2014), suggest that when opting for environmentally friendly products consumers should give up personal benefits. The purchase of non-sustainable items causes feelings of guilt in consumers, increasing consumers' future intentions for purchasing ethical products to lighten those feelings for purchasing unethical products (Newman & Trump, 2017). We foresee that the decision to embrace Slow Fashion, rather than Fast Fashion, is linked to a positive self-signal revealing an underlying disposition that an individual is responsible and morally good instead of selfish and careless (Dixon & Mikolo, 2020). ...
... The influence of perceived ease of use on MSA adoption intentions was insignificant. Although the ease of using mobile app features was a significant predictor of intentions to use travel apps (Lu et al., 2015), app purchase intentions (Newman and Trump, 2017), and app use behaviour (Kim et al., 2015), it had no effect on mobile apps engagement (Kim et al., 2017). Thus, the effect of ease of use and effort expectancy was expected to decline with digital experience of users and technology advancement of smartphones and MSA features. ...
... Today, most consumers are driven to associate themselves with ethical brands to alleviate their feelings of guilt (Newman & Trump, 2017). Studies on guilt have also focused on why committed consumers comply with demanding brands, its ill-effects (Zemack-Rugar et al., 2017) and how casual fans driven by guilt engage with their favourite sports team (Thomas, 2018). ...
Emotions have a compelling and strong effect on individuals actions and behaviours. They are elicited in consumers during the decision‐making process through brand‐related stimuli. Negative emotions towards a brand can translate directly into actions against it, for instance, propagating negative word of mouth, avoidance and vengeance. Although scholars have conducted consumer–brand relationship (CBR) research for over 20 years, our understanding of negative emotions is still limited. Research in the consumer–brand relationship domain so far has predominantly focused on positive emotions and its constructs. However, with a recent surge in the studies on negative emotions in the consumer–brand relationship domain, a systematic review is essential to identify, evaluate and synthesize the extant literature. Using a citation‐based search, we analyse 55 articles in the literature to achieve three objectives: primarily to illustrate the evolution and growth of negative emotions in the consumer–brand relationship using the seminal article by Fournier (1998) ‘Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research’ as the base paper. Further, the study aims to identify uncharted negative emotions in consumer–brand relationship literature by integrating it with the hierarchical theory of emotions article and finally, it suggests future research in unexplored and underexplored negative emotions.
... From a COR perspective, individuals are driven to avoid negative emotions because they often derail goal-achievement (Hobfoll et al., 2012). Guilt is an especially powerful emotion, associated with various uncomfortable psychological consequences, including feelings of remorse and negative evaluations of the self (Newman & Trump, 2017). Unlike other negative emotions such as fear and worry, which are associated with a lack of control over the source of the emotion (Watson & Spence, 2007), anticipated guilt involves a sense of accountability and control (Theotokis & Manganari, 2015). ...
As the global economy faces major contraction, speculation abounds that conspicuously branded products will be especially vulnerable. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between consumer confidence and conspicuous consumption. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we develop a theoretical model, which we test with data from a sample of Brazilian consumers (n = 1,043), using structural equation modeling and moderated mediation analysis. Results reveal that financial insecurity, need for status, and anticipated luxury guilt each positively mediate the consumer confidence‐conspicuous consumption relationship. The effects of consumer confidence on conspicuous consumption via financial insecurity and anticipated luxury guilt are strongest for the highest socioeconomic status consumers.
... Guilt convinces such individuals that they have violated their own or societal norms, thus eliciting a need to engage in a reparative behavior (Tangney et al., 1996). In other words, guilt-laden individuals might feel the necessity to regulate their behaviors and behave in a constructive way to deal with their negative feelings (Newman and Trump, 2017). For instance, they may engage in pro-social actions Van Kenhove, 2005, 2006). ...
Purpose
This paper investigates why and when messages regarding unsustainable luxury products lead to negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) through a focus on the role of guilt, need to warn others and consumers' cultural orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments test whether messages describing unsustainable versus sustainable luxury manufacturing processes elicit guilt and a need to warn others and whether and how the need to warn others affects consumers' NWOM depending on their cultural orientation.
Findings
Consumers experience guilt in response to messages emphasizing the unsustainable (vs sustainable) nature of luxury products. In turn, guilt triggers a need to warn other consumers, which leads to NWOM about the luxury company. Furthermore, the results suggest that two dimensions of Hofstede's model of national culture – namely individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity – moderate the effect of the need to warn others on NWOM.
Practical implications
Luxury managers should design appropriate strategies to cope with consumers' different reactions to information regarding luxury brands' unsustainability. Managers should be aware that the risk of NWOM diffusion may be higher in countries characterized by a collectivistic and feminine orientation rather than an individualistic and masculine orientation.
Originality/value
Consumer reaction to unsustainable luxury, especially across different cultural groups, is a neglected area of investigation. This work contributes to this novel area of research by investigating NWOM stemming from unsustainable luxury manufacturing practices in different cultural contexts.
... Although CRM has less influence on consumers with high moral identity than those with low moral identity (He et al. 2019), moral identity can predict prosocial behaviors by increasing the sense of moral elevation (Aquino et al. 2011), which shows a positive effect on consumer responses to CRM campaigns (Zheng et al. 2019). Moreover, previous studies suggested that moral identity has a more substantial positive impact on purchase intention toward the brand engaging in CRM (He et al. 2016), thus showing a strong connection with an ethical brand (Newman and Trump 2017). Thus, we propose the following hypothesis: ...
In its three decades of development, many constructs of cause-related marketing have been tested from different perspectives and in varied contexts. However, there has not yet been an integrated empirical study. Reviewing 162 studies from 117 articles, we constructed a framework of meta-analysis and identified 20 constructs. Among these, 13 are antecedents that can be grouped into three components: consumer-related traits, execution-related factors, and product-related traits, while three mediators and four consequences are used to measure the effectiveness of cause-related marketing. Moreover, we examined 857 relationships among the constructs. The results showed that consumer-related traits, execution-related factors, and product-related traits all influence the effectiveness of cause-related marketing to varying degrees. Furthermore, we analyzed the effects of six moderators and found that cause-related marketing would be more effective when the brand is familiar, the product is utilitarian, the donation magnitude is large, and the cause is less familiar. However, neither cultural orientation nor cause type significantly influences the effectiveness of cause-related marketing. Finally, the interactions between these moderators and execution-related antecedents provide contributions and implications for cause-related marketing.
... For example, to study embarrassment in products (Londono, Davies, & Elms, 2017), service encounters (Kilian, Steinmann, & Hammes, 2018), and how men and women cope with the embarrassment of buying condoms (Arndt & Ekebas-Turedi, 2017). An additional powerful negative emotion is guilt (Arli, Leo, & Tjiptono, 2016), since guilt and moral identity also help consumers to connect with ethical brands (Newman & Trump, 2017). ...
Este texto se presenta como una guía de investigación para estudiantes de posgrado, profesores de metodología de investigación, investigadores en carrera y grupos y centros de investigación de las áreas de negocios, administración, mercadeo y contaduría, cuyo objetivo es esclarecer el conjunto de temas y métodos empleados por la comunidad científica internacional de esos campos del conocimiento. La construcción de los capítulos se sustenta en revisiones sistemáticas de la literatura y bibliometrías, a partir de publicaciones recientes de alto impacto, las cuales fueron seleccionadas de Scopus y Web of Science. De manera general, los resultados señalan que i) la literatura de alto impacto se produce en Estados Unidos, Reino Unido y Alemania; ii) existen ámbitos de análisis, contextos de problematización y campos de aplicación variados para la investigación en estas áreas de interés; iii) a pesar de que la organización es el foco de la investigación en estas áreas, en el tiempo reciente se ha enfatizado en su relación con el entorno nacional e internacional y el estudio de las personas en ese ámbito; y iv) la presencia de la teoría económica sigue siendo vigente como simiente de la literatura de impacto en estas áreas.
... Guilt-laden individuals tend to enact "reparative action, such as apologizing, undoing or in some way repairing the harm that was done" (Tangney, Ferguson, Wagner, Crowley, & Gramzow, 1996, p. 798). Guilt signals that such individuals have violated societal norms, which then activates their reparative behavior (Newman & Trump, 2017;Steenhaut & Van Kenhove, 2005). These findings converge with the evidence from social marketing research showing that negative emotional communication appeals that elicit fear, guilt and shame positively affect consumers' intention to adopt responsible behaviors, such as preferring to buy the environmentally sustainable (though more expensive) version of a product rather than its less sustainable (though less expensive) version (e.g., Amatulli, De Angelis, Peluso, Soscia, & Guido, 2019;Olsen, Slotegraaf, & Chandukala, 2014). ...
This research investigates consumers' reactions to luxury versus mass-market fashion products that are produced in an unsustainable manner. In particular, this research empirically assesses whether and why third-party information revealing the unsustainable nature of luxury versus mass-market fashion products may increase consumers' intention to engage in negative word-of-mouth about the manufacturing company. The results of four experiments demonstrate that, when confronted with information revealing that a purchased luxury fashion product has been produced in an environmentally or socially unsustainable manner, consumers experience a higher sense of guilt over that product, compared to a purchased mass-market fashion product, due to their lower expectations about luxury fashion products' unsustainability. Guilt, in turn, drives consumers' intention to generate negative word-of-mouth about the producer and such an effect is more pronounced among consumers with a higher versus lower individualistic orientation.
Company activities are important contributors to climate change. Consumers take companies' actions toward environment into account when they decide to engage with these companies. We study under which conditions corporate misconduct with respect to climate change outrages consumers, eliciting negative moral emotions. Moreover, we explore the capacity of these negative moral emotions to energize consumer decisions and action tendencies to retaliate against “offending” companies. Testing two moderated mediation models on random samples of 152 adult citizens of the United States and 159 adult citizens of France, we show that negative moral emotions experienced by consumers that witness corporate malfeasance toward the climate determine negative attitudes toward the company and intentions to penalize it. Moreover, for both samples, empathy, collective self, and moral identity moderate the relationship between the perception of corporate irresponsibility and moral emotions, while the effect of political orientation is culturally specific. These findings help to uncover under which conditions consumer hostile responses toward corporate misconduct takes place.
Purpose
Ethical consumerism is gaining importance as consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about brands' moral intentions and social and legal practices. Hence, in a quest to advance the current application of ethics in branding, this study substantiates literature by investigating consumer-perceived brand ethicality's (CPBE) role in affecting psychological, affective and behavioral responses of consumers (i.e. psychological brand ownership (PBO), brand commitment and willingness to pay a price premium (WPPP). Further, the authors test self-congruence as the boundary condition for CPBE.
Design/methodology/approach
Online survey method resulted in 408 responses, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
CPBE emerged as a predictor for PBO, brand commitment and WPPP. However, counterintuitively, self-congruence failed to reflect any moderating effect on the relationships between CPBE and PBO and CPBE and brand commitment.
Practical implications
Brands are encouraged to indulge in and reflect ethical practices to generate favorable consumer responses, i.e. PBO, brand commitment and WPPP.
Originality/value
Based on the ethical and psychological ownership theories, the investigation adds to the scholarship on CPBE and its outcomes. Arguably, it remains the first study to document the linkage between CPBE and PBO.
Purpose
This literature review aims to synthesise the research on various sustainable product branding activities and their impact on consumer responses to sustainable products and brands.
Design/methodology/approach
This literature review is semi-systematic and can be classified as a domain-based review. The search strategy was systematic and well-defined.
Findings
The authors identified four themes: building brand equity, brand communication, product development and third-party labels and ratings, within the sustainable product branding activities that influence consumers' responses to sustainable products and brands. The study's findings revealed diverse, and not always favourable, types of behavioural and attitudinal responses from consumers. As for the positive consumer responses, the authors found positive attitudes towards brands, willingness to pay a premium price and positive word-of-mouth intentions. As for the negative consumer responses, the authors found perceived greenwashing, negative brand evaluations and resistance to sustainable products with unfamiliar third-party labels. Several future research propositions and implications for research and practice are discussed.
Originality/value
Despite the large number of studies that look at sustainable branding strategies, there is a gap in terms of synthesising the knowledge on consumer responses to sustainable product branding strategies. This paper intends to fill this gap.
Perilaku konsumen mendonasikan barang atau uang untuk amal saat ini telah banyak berubah. Perlu daya tarik kreatif dalam pesan donasi agar program amal lebih berhasil. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji apakah perasaan bersalah dalam pesan donasi dapat mempengaruhi intensi donasi konsumen. Penelitian dilakukan dengan metode eksperimen, dengan partisipan konsumen milenial muda. Hasil Studi 1 menunjukkan bahwa perasaan bersalah berpengaruh signifikan terhadap intensi berdonasi, dimediasi oleh perceived consumer effectiveness. Diterapkan pada pesan donasi, hasil Studi 2 memperlihatkan bahwa pesan donasi yang menggunakan daya tarik perasaan bersalah menimbulkan empati dan rasa tanggungjawab yang berpengaruh signifikan pada intensi berdonasi, dan dimediasi oleh perasaan bersalah.
There has been a noteworthy rise in sustainability awareness in the fashion industry. However, the motivation to adopt such behaviors is unclear, making it relevant to consider which identity self-signals influences consumers’ perceptions toward slow fashion. Findings from two experimental studies suggest that consumers hold a higher word of mouth (WOM) and status perceptions when non-conformity, pro-environmental, and frugality signals are highlighted. This research further shows the importance of increasing ownership through customization, which increases status. The findings provide key implications for researchers and practitioners regarding fashion industry sustainability.
In July 2020 more than 1,100 companies paused their paid advertising on Facebook to demand clear and unequivocal actions to stop its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate. This Business-to-Business (B2B) boycott phenomenon is related to both corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), as Facebook and other social media platforms can be seen to be engaging in CSI, while the boycotting advertisers are engaging in CSR. Understanding how consumers respond to this hybrid form of B2B boycotting, involving both CSI and CSR elements, is critical for marketing and branding practice and theories. This research develops a preliminary framework on the factors influencing consumer responses to both the transgressing brand (i.e., Facebook) and the boycotting brands (i.e., the advertisers). We then discuss the implications for the literature on traditional CSI and CSR. Finally, future research directions are presented on this under-studied issue.
Following the cognitive functional model in persuasive communication and the self‐construal theory, this two‐study design project examines the impact of guilt and shame in charity advertising. Study 1 was a survey that investigated the extent to which anticipatory guilt and shame operate in affecting people's purchase intention relating to a product with social causes. Study 2 was an experiment that examined the impact of guilt versus shame appeals in processing charity advertising messages. The role of self‐construal was examined in both studies. Results indicated that both the anticipatory guilt and ad‐induced guilt were positively connected with behavioral intentions. People with higher interdependent self‐construal were more prone to charitable behaviors. The anticipatory shame was positively connected with behavioral intention, whereas the ad‐induced shame was not. In addition, self‐construal negatively moderated the effect of shame, such that the impact of anticipatory shame and shame arousal on behavioral intentions were more pronounced among people with higher independent self‐construal.
Overspending has been a largely stigmatised consumer behaviour in traditional Chinese culture. However, social and economic development in recent decades has induced the rise of Chinese consumerism and changes in public attitudes towards overspending. Focusing on overspending stigmas Gouwukuang (GWK) and Duoshoudang (DSD) and stigma‐relevant attitudes, the present study investigates the effect of perceived stigma on consumers' attitude towards overspending through the mediating effect of anticipated consumer guilt. The moderating role of message framing in this relationship is also examined. Results of two analyses indicate that (a) between the two stigmas, DSD is less stigmatising and preferred in comparison to GWK in social interaction and self‐identification; (b) participants' perception of the stigma associated with overspending predicts their anticipation of guilt associated with this behaviour, which in turn predicts negative attitude towards overspending; (c) message framing moderates the relationship between perceived stigma and anticipated guilt, and hence facilitates destigmatisation of the traditionally stigmatised behaviour of overspending. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Seeking to transcend polarized porn debates, this research used grounded theory to explore experiences of porn consumption among self-identified feminists, a demographic occupying a unique position both within and outside feminist critiques of pornography. Consumption experiences were influenced by participants’ beliefs about what constituted ‘ethical enough’ (conscionable). These were accompanied by contemplative moments, often shaped by the degree to which individuals felt they had strayed from their conceptions of conscionable practice. Respondents described an interactive relationship between such reflections, (re/)definitions of conscionability, and future intentions/attitudes. Thus, rather than representing an achieved or failed ‘ethical consumer’ status, porn consumption ethics were conceptualized as an ongoing process of ‘conscionable’ negotiation. This study enhances our understanding of how ethical issues are navigated by feminists who use pornography – an unexplored demographic within porn studies and consumer ethics research alike. The study furthermore presents the first theoretical model of porn consumer ethics (conscionable consumption).
Seeking to transcend polarized porn debates, this research used grounded theory to explore experiences of porn consumption among self-identified feminists; a demographic occupying a unique position both within and outside feminist critiques of pornography.
Consumption experiences were influenced by participants’ beliefs about what constituted ‘ethical enough’ (conscionable). These were accompanied by contemplative moments, often shaped by the degree to which individuals felt they had strayed from their conceptions of conscionable practice. Respondents described an interactive relationship between such reflections, (re/)definitions of conscionability, and future intentions/attitudes. Thus, rather than representing an achieved or failed ‘ethical consumer’ status, porn consumption ethics were conceptualized as an ongoing process of ‘conscionable’ negotiation.
This study enhances our understanding of how ethical issues are navigated by feminists who use pornography – an unexplored demographic within porn studies and consumer ethics research alike. It furthermore presents the first theoretical model of porn consumer ethics (conscionable consumption).
Following proposals regarding the criteria for differentiating emotions, the current investigation examined whether the antecedents and facial expressions of embarrassment, shame, and guilt are distinct. In Study 1, participants wrote down events that had caused them to feel embarrassment, shame, and guilt. Coding of these events revealed that embarrassment was associated with transgressions of conventions that govern public interactions, shame with the failure to meet important personal standards, and guilt with actions that harm others or violate duties. Study 2 determined whether these three emotions are distinct in another domain of emotion-namely, facial expression. Observers were presented with slides of 14 different facial expressions, including those of embarrassment, shame, and candidates of guilt (self-contempt, sympathy, and pain). Observers accurately identified the expressions of embarrassment and shame, but did not reliably label any expression as guilt.
This research examines the notion that guilt, the negative emotion stemming from a failure to meet a self-held standard of behavior, leads to preferences for products enabling self-improvement, even in domains unrelated to the original source of the guilt. Examining consumer responses to real products, this research shows that such effects arise because guilt—by its focus on previous wrongdoings—activates a general desire to improve the self. This increase in desire for self-improvement products is only observed for choices involving the self (not others), is not observed in response to other negative emotions (e.g., shame, embarrassment, sadness, or envy), and is mitigated when people hold the belief that the self is non-malleable. Building on past work that focuses on how guilt often leads to the motivation to either directly or indirectly alleviate feelings of guilt, the current research demonstrates an additional, novel downstream consequence of guilt, showing that only guilt has the unique motivational consequence of activating a general desire to improve the self, which subsequently spills into other domains and spurs self-improving product choices. These findings are discussed in light of their implications for research on the distinct motivational consequences of specific emotions and on consumer well-being.
The present work examines the effectiveness of pairing a charitable donation with a product purchase. We propose a compensatory process, in which the guilt-laundering properties of charitable donations are more appealing the more consumption guilt is experienced. Consumption guilt is dependent on both product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and consumer characteristics (guilt-sensitivity), such that adding a charitable donation to hedonic products is more impactful than adding the same donation to utilitarian products, especially for guilt-sensitive consumers. As a result of the impact of product type and guilt-sensitivity, several non-intuitive findings emerge. For example, guilt-sensitive consumers, who normally indulge in hedonic consumption the least, indulge at least as much as their less guilt-sensitive counterparts when hedonic products are paired with a charitable donation. Moreover, guilt-sensitive consumers are relatively insensitive to the nature of the supported cause, indulging in hedonic consumption even when it supports disliked causes. Six studies demonstrate the impact of adding charitable donations to products as well as the unique role that consumption guilt and its alleviation play in the underlying process.
People often brag about, or advertise, their good deeds to others. Seven studies investigate how bragging about prosocial behavior affects perceived generosity. The authors propose that bragging conveys information about an actor's good deeds, leading to an attribution of generosity. However, bragging also signals a selfish motivation (a desire for credit) that undermines the attribution of generosity. Thus, bragging has a positive effect when prosocial behavior is unknown because it informs others that an actor has behaved generously. However, bragging does not help-and often hurts-when prosocial behavior is already known, because it signals a selfish motive. In addition, the authors demonstrate that conspicuous cause marketing products have effects akin to bragging by signaling an impure motive for doing good deeds. Finally, the authors argue that bragging about prosocial behavior is unique because it undermines the precise information that the braggart is trying to convey (generosity). In contrast, bragging about personal achievements does not affect perceptions of the focal trait conveyed in the brag. These findings underscore the strategic considerations inherent in signaling altruism.
A significant body of research concludes that stable beliefs of perceived consumer effectiveness lead to sustainable consumption choices. Consumers who believe that their decisions can significantly affect environmental and social issues are more likely to behave sustainably. Little is known, however, about how perceived consumer effectiveness can be increased. We find that feelings of guilt and pride, activated by a single consumption episode, can regulate sustainable consumption by affecting consumers’ general perception of effectiveness. This paper demonstrates the impact that guilt and pride have on perceived consumer effectiveness and shows how this effect rests on the ability of these emotions to influence perceptions of agency. After experiencing guilt or pride, consumers see themselves as the cause of relevant sustainability outcomes. The process of causal attribution associated with these emotions influences consumers’ use of neutralization techniques. Through the reduction in consumers’ ability to neutralize their sense of personal responsibility, guilt and pride positively influence perceived consumer effectiveness. The inability to rationalize-away their personal responsibility, persuades consumers that they affect sustainability outcomes through their decisions. The research advances our understanding of sustainable consumption and identifies a new avenue for the regulation of individual consumer behavior that has significant implications for the development of sustainable marketing initiatives.
This research explores the feelings of guilt and pride experienced by consumers after a purchase decision that involves issues of environmental and social sustainability. Through a multi-method design, the authors examine key dimensions that influence the process of emotional appraisal, illustrate the characteristics of appraisals of guilt/pride and investigate the consequences that emotions have on future choices. In this exploratory research, when a purchase decision includes an ethical dilemma, consumers were found to express guilt or pride even when the purchase is not intentional, i.e. forced by circumstances. Moreover, the study explores how emotions experienced after decisions may have a positive influence on the future purchase of sustainable alternatives. Finally, the paper proposes a new model that describes the process of emotional appraisal and reports on a number of dimensions that were found to lead to guilt and pride. The insights presented extend knowledge of two key consumer emotions and present important implications for practitioners promoting ethical products.
The market share of brands positioned using ethical attributes typically lags behind brands that promote attributes related to product performance. Across four studies, the authors show that situational factors that heighten consumers' self-accountability (i.e., activation of their desire to live up to their self-standards) lead to increased preferences for products promoted through their ethical attributes. They investigate their predictions regarding selfaccountability in multiple ways, including examining the moderating roles of awareness of the discrepancy between a person's internal standards and actual behavior, self-accountability priming, and the presence of others in the decision context. Furthermore, they demonstrate that the subtle activation of self-accountability leads to more positive reactions to ethical appeals than explicit guilt appeals. Finally, they show that preference for a product promoted through ethical appeals is driven by the desire to avoid anticipated guilt, beyond the effects of impression management. Taken together, the results suggest that marketers positioning products through ethical attributes should subtly activate consumer self-accountability rather than using more explicit guilt appeals.
Although consumers report positive attitudes toward ethical goods, their intentions and behaviors often do not follow suit. Just-world theory highlights the conditions under which consumers are most likely to prefer fair-trade products. This theory proposes that people are motivated to construe the world as a just place where people get what they deserve. In the current research, when people are confronted with high levels of injustice (communicated need is high) and avenues for justice restoration seem uncertain or unavailable, assisting others by supporting fair trade decreases. However, highlighting how injustice can be redressed through purchases enhances fair-trade support under conditions of high need. The effects are moderated by justice sensitivity factors, such as just-world beliefs and whether the product type (indulgence vs. necessity) makes the injustice of consumer privilege salient. The results suggest that communicating high need when requesting consumer prosocial actions can sometimes backfire. Marketers employing high need appeals should heighten perceptions of justice restoration potential and activate fairness-related thoughts through product positioning to encourage fair-trade purchases.
The authors document advertisers' application of guilt appeals as a method of influence. A content analysis of guilt advertisements in 24 magazines reveals that (1) guilt appeals appear in advertising at a level comparable to that of other appeals (e.g., humor, sexual, and comparisons), (2) guilt appeals appear in every magazine type, but are most common in news and general editorial magazines, (3) the majority of guilt ads have anticipatory guilt appeals, (4) the single most common guilt statement is the statement of fact, (5) guilt is typically employed in the ad copy or in both the copy and visual images, and (6) guilt appeals appear most often in ads for charities and health-related products. Implications of the content analysis are considered and research directions outlined.
Most empirical work on product symbolism has paid relatively little attention to how products are used by consumers in everyday social life. This paper argues that the subjective experience imparted by the consumption of many products substantially contributes to the consumer's structuring of social reality, self-concept, and behavior. Moreover, the consumer often relies upon the social meanings inherent in products as a guide to the performance of social roles, especially when role demands are novel. While marketing theory traditionally views products as post hoc responses to underlying needs, the focus here is on conditions under which products serve as a priori stimuli to behavior. By integrating concepts adapted from symbolic interactionism, this approach stresses the importance of product symbolism as a mediator of self-definition and role performance.
Despite increased research on the various effects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the question of whether CSR is worthwhile for firms still remains to be addressed. Prior work suggests that CSR offers firms insurance-like protection against negative publicity due to greater levels of goodwill with various stakeholders. Yet, we still miss an answer to the following question: How effective, if at all, is CSR in insulating firms from scrutiny compared to other important marketing measures, such as customer orientation and service quality orientation? This study develops and empirically tests a theoretical framework that demonstrates the relative impact of CSR on consumer resistance to negative information when confronted with negative information about a firm. The results demonstrate that CSR shields firms from negative information about CSR practices but not information related to firms’ core service offerings. Managerially, the findings demonstrate that CSR may offer less of blanket insurance than assumed in previous research. Furthermore, results indicate that firms with a consumer base of experts should favor a focus on service quality orientation over CSR; conversely, when consumers are novices firms should focus on CSR for greater consumer resistance to negative information.
Each year, individuals in the United States donate over $200 billion to charitable causes. To motivate donors, charities offer donors recognition, even though it is not well understood if and how recognition increases charitable behavior. This research focuses on how the effectiveness of recognition on charitable behavior is dependent on the joint influence of two distinct dimensions of moral identity — internalization and symbolization (Aquino and Reed 2002). Three studies examining both monetary donations and volunteering behavior show recognition increases charitable behavior among those characterized by high moral identity symbolization and low moral identity internalization. Interestingly, those who are high in moral identity internalization are uninfluenced by recognition. By understanding correlates of the two dimensions of moral identity among its donor base, nonprofits can strategically recognize potential donors to maximize donation and volunteering behavior.
It is common for authors discovering a significant interaction of a measured variable X with a manipulated variable Z to examine simple effects of Z at different levels of X. These “spotlight” tests are often misunderstood even in the simplest cases, and it appears that consumer researchers are unsure how to extend them to more complex designs. We explain the general principles of spotlight tests, show that they rely on familiar regression techniques, and provide a tutorial showing how to apply these tests across an array of experimental designs. Rather than following the common practice of reporting spotlight tests at one standard deviation above and below the mean of X, we recommend that when X has focal values, researchers report spotlight tests at those focal values. When X does not have focal values, we recommend researchers report ranges of significance using a version of Johnson and Neyman’s (1936) test we call a “floodlight”.
This research relied on a field experiment involving a real-world instance of corporate philanthropy to shed light on both
the scope and limitations of the strategic returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, the authors demonstrate
that the impact of CSR in the real world is not only less pervasive than has been previously acknowledged but also more multifaceted
than has been previously conceptualized. The findings indicated that contingent on CSR awareness, which was rather low, stakeholders
did react positively to the focal company not only in the consumption domain but in the employment and investment domains
as well. Stakeholder attributions regarding the genuineness of the company’s motives moderated these effects.
In several studies, the authors examine the potential to leverage a consumer's moral identity to enhance brand and company identification and promote goodwill through community relations. Studies 1a and 1b show that even when opportunity costs are equivalent (subjectively or economically), consumers who also have a highly self-important moral identity perceive the act of giving time versus money as more moral and self-expressive. The authors extend these findings to self-reported preferences and establish boundary conditions in two additional studies. Consumers with higher organizational status prefer to give money versus time, but this preference is weaker for those with a highly self-important moral identity (Study 2), and the preference for giving time versus money is more likely to emerge when the moral self is primed and the time given has a moral purpose (Study 3).
We investigate how two important social identities—gender identity and moral identity—result in differential donations to in-groups and out-groups. Results from three studies indicate that moral identity importance tends to increase donations to out-groups (Iraq, Indonesia) and not to in-groups (London, New Orleans). How- ever, this occurs only for consumers with a feminine gender identity. For consumers with a masculine gender identity, moral identity importance increases donations to the in-group but not the out-group. Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) mediates the moderating role of gender identity on the effect of moral identity on in-group and out-group donations.
Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta- analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices are more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators of CSP. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to the CSP-CFP relationship than is currently assumed to exist by many business scholars.
The article explores the nature of corporate citizenship and its relevance for marketing practitioners and academic researchers.
Specifically, a conceptualization and operationalization of corporate citizenship are first proposed. Then, an empirical investigation
conducted in two independent samples examines whether components of an organization’s culture affect the level of commitment
to corporate citizenship and whether corporate citizenship is conducive to business benefits. Survey results suggest that
market-oriented cultures as well as humanistic cultures lead to proactive corporate citizenship, which in turn is associated
with improved levels of employee commitment, customer loyalty, and business performance. The results point to corporate citizenship
as a potentially fruitful business practice both in terms of internal and external marketing.
Although the idea of brand concepts has been around for a while, very little research addresses how brand concepts may influence consumer responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Four studies reveal that communicating the CSR actions of a luxury brand concept causes a decline in evaluations, relative to control. A luxury brand’s self-enhancement concept (i.e., dominance over people and resources) is in conflict with the CSR information’s self-transcendence concept (i.e., protecting the welfare of all), which causes disfluency and a decline in evaluations. These effects do not emerge for brands with openness (i.e., following emotional pursuits in uncertain directions) or conservation (i.e., protecting the status quo) concepts that do not conflict with CSR. The effects for luxury brand concepts disappeared when the informativeness of the disfluency was undermined but were accentuated in an abstract (vs. concrete) mind-set. These findings implicate brand concepts as a key factor in how consumers respond to CSR activities.
In three experiments, nonvolitional self-association is shown to improve implicit attitude, self-reported attitude, purchase intention, and product choice for both product categories and fictional brands. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that arbitrary categorization of self-related content with novel stimuli improved evaluations by creating new self-object associations in memory and that the influence of self-association is moderated by implicit self-esteem. Experiment 3 shows that such implicit self-referencing does not require conscious self-categorization and occurs even when novel stimuli are simply presented in close proximity to self-related content. In this final experiment, subjects responded more positively to brands featured in banner ads on a personal social networking webpage than when featured on an equivalent nonpersonal social networking page. This automatic self-association effect was mediated by the degree to which the advertising prompted an implicit association between the self and the advertised brands.
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/communicating-corporate-social-responsibility-to-a-cynical-public/
Using a grounded theory approach, the authors investigate the nature and consequences of brand love. Arguing that research on brand love needs to be built on an understanding of how consumers actually experience this phenomenon, they conduct two qualitative studies to uncover the different elements ("features") of the consumer prototype of brand love. Then, they use structural equations modeling on survey data to explore how these elements can be modeled as both first-order and higher-order structural models. A higher-order model yields seven core elements: self-brand integration, passion-driven behaviors, positive emotional connection, long-term relationship, positive overall attitude valence, attitude certainty and confidence (strength), and anticipated separation distress. In addition to these seven core elements of brand love itself, the prototype includes quality beliefs as an antecedent of brand love and brand loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information as outcomes. Both the firstorder and higher-order brand love models predict loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance better, and provide a greater understanding, than an overall summary measure of brand love. The authors conclude by presenting theoretical and managerial implications.
Ss in 2 studies were asked to report on 32 emotional states. Ss were asked to remember instances of experiencing these states and, for each experience, to fill out a questionnaire on appraisal dimensions and action readiness modes. Appraisal patterns as well as patterns of action readiness show distinct relations to various emotional categories, or names; the contributions of both kinds of components to emotion distinction are in part independent and additive. Multiple correlations, predicting action readiness scores from appraisal scores, demonstrated significant relations between particular modes of action readiness and particular appraisal patterns. The results of these studies are interpreted as providing support for the view that emotions can be regarded both as experiences of forms of appraisal and as states of action readiness. Emotions can profitably be analyzed in terms of sets of components, in which action readiness components take an important share. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research explored how individuals regulate their emotions by consuming products of a hedonic nature. We introduce a new construct to the consumer research literature, emotion regulation consumption (ERC), which involves the consumption or purchase of a good or service for the purposes of alleviating, repairing, or managing an emotion in the short term. Specifically, ERC processes were examined for four discrete emotions – sadness, amusement, contentment, and fear/anxiety. Additionally, this research demonstrates how an individual's ability to use internal cognitive control processes, or “emotion regulation strategies,” to manage emotions may differentially moderate the effects of emotions on hedonic consumption. Important theoretical and managerial implications are offered:
Anytime that I am bummed, I order in the unhealthiest foods I can think of. I definitely use food as a crutch. I call it eating my feelings. (female, 23).
Whenever I feel great, the first thing I want to do is play golf. It does not matter if I go play a full round somewhere or just get in some practice at the driving range…I just want to hit some golf balls. (male, 24).1
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This research was conducted to assess how guilt appeals operate in soliciting charitable donations. It was hypothesized that a sense of responsibility would enhance the effectiveness of charitable guilt appeals, thus leading to larger charitable donations. It was also hypothesized that the presence of others would make salient a prosocial norm, thus increasing a sense of responsibility to help. Two laboratory experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. The effect of guilt on charitable donation intention and actual donations was mediated by a sense of responsibility. Additionally the presence of others enhanced the sense of responsibility to behave prosocially.
When it comes to philanthropy, executives increasingly see themselves as caught between critics demanding ever higher levels of "corporate social responsibility" and investors applying pressure to maximize short-term profits. In response, many companies have sought to make their giving more strategic, but what passes for strategic philanthropy is almost never truly strategic, and often isn't particularly effective as philanthropy. Increasingly, philanthropy is used as a form of public relations or advertising, promoting a company's image through high-profile sponsorships. But there is a more truly strategic way to think about philanthropy. Corporations can use their charitable efforts to improve their competitive context - the quality of the business environment in the locations where they operate. Using philanthropy to enhance competitive context aligns social. and economic goals and improves a company's long-term business prospects. Addressing context enables a company to not only give money but also leverage its capabilities and relationships in support of charitable causes. That produces social benefits far exceeding those provided by individual donors, foundations, or even governments. Taking this new direction requires fundamental changes in the way companies approach their contribution programs. For example, philanthropic investments can improve education and local quality of life in ways that will benefit the company Such investments can also improve the company's competitiveness by contributing to expanding the local market and helping to reduce corruption in the local business environment. Adopting a context-focused approach goes against the grain of current philanthropic practice, and it requires a far more disciplined approach than is prevalent today But it can make a company's philanthropic activities far more effective.
Companies often encourage consumers to engage in sustainable behaviors using their services in a more environmentally friendly or green way, such as reusing the towels in a hotel or replacing paper bank statements by electronic statements. Sometimes, the option of green service is implied as the default and consumers can opt-out, while in other cases consumers need to explicitly ask (opt-in) for switching to a green service. This research examines the effectiveness of choice architecture and particularly the different default policies—i.e., the alternative the consumer receives if he/she does not explicitly request otherwise—in engaging consumer green behavior. In four experiments, we show that the opt-out default policy is more effective than the opt-in, because it increases anticipated guilt. This effect is stronger for consumers who are less conscious for the environment (Study 1).We also show that a forced choice policy, in which the consumer is not automatically assigned to any condition and is forced to choose between the green and the non-green service option, is more effective than the opt-in policy and not significantly more effective than the opt-out policy (Study 2). Finally, we show that the role of defaults is weakened (enhanced), if a negotiated (reciprocal) cooperation strategy is used (Study 3). The article contributes to the literature of defaults and provides managerial and public policy implications for the design of green services.
The study of social norms and of actors' orientations toward norms is a continuing concern in social psychology and sociology. This paper reports the use of a semi-projective story completion technique to measure the internalization of an abstinence norm by high school seniors in selected North Carolina schools. This measure is used to predict continued conformity under the changed normative and surveillance conditions that accoumpany entry into college. Results encourage the conclusion that those who have internalized a norm are less likely to violate it under permissive conditions.
We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Two between subjects experiments were conducted to test our hypotheses on samples of adult consumers. The results show that, for corporate non-green actions, various individual difference characteristics (social justice values, empathy, moral identity, self-concept) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust), which, in turn, lead to consumer negative responses (negative word of mouth, complaint behaviors, boycotting). Moreover, for corporate green actions, empathy moderates elicitation of positive emotions on gratitude, which, in turn, influences consumer positive responses (positive word of mouth, resistance to negative information, identification with the company, investment). This study adds to extant research by examining understudied “hot” moral emotional processes underlying consumer reactions toward corporate environmental responsibility and irresponsibility. Implications for marketing communication and segmentation decisions are considered.
The moderating roles of consumer brand involvement type and product type on the effect of a match between consumers' self-schema and the cause a brand supports on consumers' preference for the cause-supporting brand is investigated. The authors show that a schema–cause match enhances consumer preference for a brand engaging in cause-related marketing when (1) consumers' involvement with the brand is of the impression-relevant type (vs. outcome-relevant type) and (2) when the branded product is functional (vs. hedonic). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The results from three studies suggest that consumers' perceptions of product effectiveness are critical in determining the amount of a product they choose to use in a given instance. In general, consumers consider green, or environmentally friendly, products to be less effective than regular products; therefore, consumers increase the amount of the green product they use to make up for the perceived inferiority. Notably, this pattern of green versus regular product usage is more pronounced among consumers who are environmentally conscious. When the perceived effectiveness of a green product is boosted by a credible endorsement, the discrepancy between green and regular product usage disappears.
While existing literature describes strong brand relationships along several dimensions, this research sheds light on the identity perspective of consumer–brand relationships through the lens of brand identity fusion. Specifically, this research examines the effect of brand identity fusion on consumers’ responses to different brand transgressions. By comparing brand identity fusion with brand identification, this research also provides evidence that brand identity fusion is more predictive and enduring in explaining consumers’ relationship-serving biases and prorelationship behaviors in the face of brand transgressions. The applicability of brand identity fusion for understanding connections between consumers and brand relationship partners in consumer–brand relationships is presented, followed by discussions of theoretical and managerial implications and directions for future research.
People's mental representations of self overlap with those of significant others and in-groups. We extend this finding to show that people's mental representations of self also overlap with inanimate, seemingly impersonal, marketplace entities: consumer brands. Our study follows the “including others in the self” paradigm set forth by Aron and colleagues. We use response times to find that characteristics on which the self and a loved brand are similar are relatively more accessible than dissimilar characteristics, indicating self–brand overlap. These findings suggest that self–other overlap extends beyond individuals and in-groups. Psychological implications of the inclusion of brands in the self are discussed.
That is a question that has long puzzled marketers who have heard from customers that they want to do business with ethically based firms - defined as companies that produce products under conditions of progressive stakeholder relations, advanced environmental practices and respect for human rights. Marketers had no reason to doubt that sentiment, but they have always wondered if consumers would be willing to pay a higher price for ethically produced goods (since they tend to be more expensive to create.) It turns out that a series of controlled experiments proves that consumers will, in fact, pay a premium for ethically produced goods. But perhaps of equal interest is the fact that they will punish (by demanding a lower price) companies that are not seen as ethical. That relationship is not symmetrical. The punishment exacted is greater than the premium customers are willing to pay. How ethical do you have to be? Perhaps not as much as you might think. The research shows that a small degree of ethicalness "pays off." It is not necessary for a company's product to be "100% pure" in order to receive a price premium. This research is the first to find that consumers use price to punish unethical companies more than they use price to reward ethical companies, and that the ethicality of a company's behavior is, indeed, an important consideration for consumers (as demonstrated in their willingness-to-pay decisions). Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. All rights reserved.
The goal-gradient hypothesis denotes the classic finding from behaviorism that animals expend more effort as they approach a reward. Building on this hypothesis, the authors generate new propositions for the human psychology of rewards. They test these propositions using field experiments, secondary customer data, paper-and-pencil problems, and Tobit and logit models. The key findings indicate that (1) participants in a real café reward program purchase coffee more frequently the closer they are to earning a free coffee; (2) Internet users who rate songs in return for reward certificates visit the rating Web site more often, rate more songs per visit, and persist longer in the rating effort as they approach the reward goal; (3) the illusion of progress toward the goal induces purchase acceleration (e.g., customers who receive a 12-stamp coffee card with 2 preexisting "bonus" stamps complete the 10 required purchases faster than customers who receive a "regular" 10-stamp card); and (4) a stronger tendency to accelerate toward the goal predicts greater retention and faster reengagement in the program. The conceptualization and empirical findings are captured by a parsimonious goal-distance model, in which effort investment is a function of the proportion of original distance remaining to the goal. In addition, using statistical and experimental controls, the authors rule out alternative explanations for the observed goal gradients. They discuss the theoretical significance of their findings and the managerial implications for incentive systems, promotions, and customer retention.
In the face of marketp ace polls that attest to the increasing influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' purchase behavior, this article examines when, how, and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The findings implicate both company-specific factors, such as the CSR issues a company chooses to focus on and the quality of its products, and individual-specific factors, such as consumers' personal support for the CSR issues and their general beliefs about CSR, as key moderators of consumers' responses to CSR. The results also highlight the mediating role of consumers' perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in their reactions to its CSR initiatives. More specifically, the authors find that CSR initiatives can, under certain conditions, decrease consumers' intentions to buy a company's products.
Two studies explored interpersonal and action-control aspects of guilt. Both spontaneous and partner-induced guilt were studied using first-person accounts of interpersonal transgressions and guilt manipulations. Guilt was associated with transgressions against valued partners in close relationships, especially involving interpersonal neglect, unfilled obligations, and selfish actions. Feeling guilty was associated with higher rates of learning lessons, changing subsequent behavior, apologizing, confessing the transgression, and recognizing how a relationship partner's standards and expectations differ from one's own. Inducing guilt also appears to be a costly but effective way of influencing the behavior of relationship partners. The results support the view of guilt as a mechanism that alters behavior in the service of maintaining good interpersonal relationships.
Beginning with the general ideas of testing hypotheses developed by Neyman and Pearson and using certain recent results of S. Kolodziejczyk, the problem of matched groups is discussed and a numerical illustration given. It is shown that the problem of matched groups may be generalized so that both a more detailed analysis of the experimental data and a greater accuracy of results is obtained. In treating this problem the idea of "region of significance" is introduced to educational and psychological investigations. The methods proposed, however, are quite general and not limited to problems in these fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article explores the role of consumer guilt in a retail context. The results of a field study indicate that a consumer's lack of purchase can lead to a guilt response when social connectedness with a salesperson exists and the consumer perceives he or she has control over the purchase decision. A subsequent laboratory study established that when consumers experience guilt, they intend to pursue reparative actions during future purchase interactions with the salesperson to reciprocate the initial connection they established. This reparation is directed specifically toward the salesperson and not the firm.