Getting licence or keeping consistent? The role of moral identity in subsequent pro-environmental behaviours

Abstract

Although a great deal of literature has focused on the drivers of pro-environmental behaviours, the effects of past product choices on future pro-environmental product choices have not yet been thoroughly investigated. This study explores how choosing a green product influences subsequent pro-environmental product preference. Drawing on the self-perception and moral licensing research, we find that past green product consumption can yield two conflicting mechanisms: environmental self-perception (the green spillover effect) and perceived goal progress (the green licensing effect). Given these two conflicting mechanisms, past pro-environmental product selection subsequently either reinforces or undermines subsequent pro-environmental product purchase preference. This study finds that these effects are contingent on the pre-existing moral identities of individual consumers. Among consumers with high moral identity internalization or low moral identity symbolization, pro-environmental product purchase preference is reinforced, whereas consumers with low moral identity internalization or high moral identity symbolization show less preference for pro-environmental products after prior green consumption. Overall, these findings provide new insight into pro-environmental product consumption and moral identity.