Maintaining the Moral Self: Direct vs. Indirect Compensatory Consumption to Affirm the Moral Self after Threat

Yetzer, Andrea M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-20rx-pz32

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Maintaining the Moral Self: Direct vs. Indirect Compensatory Consumption to Affirm the Moral Self after Threat

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Morality has been viewed as a core aspect of the self and even a basic psychological need. Strategies for regulating threats to moral self-views may therefore be distinct from regulating threats to other self-aspects. Consistent with research on the regulation of basic psychological needs, I hypothesized that threats to the moral self require direct as opposed to indirect strategies to effectively compensate for such threats and restore self-worth. I developed and tested the moral self-maintenance perspective using compensatory consumer behavior to regulate moral self-threats. Across five studies, I found evidence that threats to moral self-views increased purchase intentions for ethical consumer brands compared to both moral self-affirmation, and to negative, but non-moral self-threats; that moral self-threats led people to draw closer to a brand on an ethical basis than a positive, but non-moral basis; and that prosocial consumer spending exerted a more enduring effect on moral self-repair than self-indulgent consumer spending after moral threat. Importantly, I found that direct and indirect compensatory consumer strategies were not substitutable for regulating moral self-threats compared to other self-threats, as engaging with ethical products similarly quelled moral and intelligence threats; however, engaging with intelligence products was ineffective for moral self-repair. Finally, I observed that the self-importance of being a moral person magnified or at times created a boundary condition for the effectiveness of certain types of compensatory strategies for moral self-repair. Overall, findings provide preliminary support for the moral self-maintenance perspective and suggest continued research in this area.

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