Moral Hypocrisy in Sustainable Consumption - 1

Consumers have to make a trade-offs in their consumption choices on a daily basis. Regularly, consumer have to balance the trade-off when making self-interest choices compared to greater good choices (e.g., Haidt, 2001). While it was a long-established tradition in economic research that consumers make self-interest decisions that maximizes their own interest, this school of thought is only one side of the coin. The other side of the coin reflects consumers desire for a fair marketplace. This is more evident today than in previous centuries as products focusing on social and environmental causes is on the raise. However, occasionally, consumers fall short on deciding for the greater good decision. So, consumers might decide for the self-interest choice and against the sustainable alternative. In such cases, consumers might make excuses for themselves and judge themselves with greater lenience. Contrary, when consumer see other consumers facing the same trade-off decision, and also deciding for the self-interest choice they might judge this person more harshly. This is what research called moral hypocrisy. In sum, this study is interested in understanding the role of moral hypocrisy when consumers have to make trade-off decisions between self-interest and greater good decisions (Campbell & Winterich 2018).