Striving to Be Good: Moral Balance in Consumer Choice

Abstract

Consumers pursue higher-order goals, morality being one of the important motivational forces. Preserving a morally good sense of self is at the heart of these pursuits. When faced with consumption choices that evoke moral considerations, consumers may face a conflict between their long-term, higher order goals and shortterm, lower-order preferences. Using an analogy to the mental accounting framework, it is proposed that when faced with such choices, consumers activate a moral choice calculus that enables them to maintain an overall positively balanced sense of a good self should they choose to deviate from the moral ideal.

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