One good deed deserves another: How moral identity and positive affect mediate the effect of costliness on pro-social consumer behaviour

Abstract

Understanding pro-social behaviour in the context of consumer behaviour is of theoretical and increasingly, managerial interest. While much research to date has focused on one-off consumer decisions, recent research is beginning to explore potential mediators of consistency or moral licensing behaviour in sequential consumer choices. Building on previous research in both psychology and economics, I examine how the costliness of initial prosocial behaviour can influence subsequent prosocial behaviour. I contribute to current knowledge of the effect of costliness on prosocial behaviour by showing that a prosocial behaviour (e.g., donation) that is perceived as costly (vs. not costly) increases a subsequent prosocial behaviour. I hypothesise that positive affect is an additional mediating mechanism. In a series of four experimental studies (and two additional studies in the appendix), this thesis replicates and extend prior research and demonstrates that this ‘moral consistency’ effect is mediated by moral identity and positive affect.