The Role of Moral Emotions and Consumer Values and Traits in the Decision to Support Nonprofits |
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Authors: | Chunyan Xie Richard P Bagozzi |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Economics and Business Administration, Stord/Haugesund University College, Stord, Norwaychunyan.xie@hsh.no;3. Department of Marketing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA |
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Abstract: | We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics between perceptions of corporate ethical/unethical actions and consumer support for nonprofits. We conducted two between-subjects experiments to test our hypotheses on a sample of adult consumers. The results show that social justice values moderate elicitation of gratitude upon exposure to corporate ethical actions, which subsequently impacts consumer support for nonprofits. Furthermore, important individual characteristics (social justice values, moral identity) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) upon perception of corporate unethical actions, which then leads to consumer support for nonprofits. Our study adds to extant research on prosocial behavior by investigating how actions by for-profit companies impact individual helping and by examining a new psychological mechanism (i.e., moral emotional processes and their contingencies) underlying consumer support for nonprofits. |
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Keywords: | corporate unethical/ethical behavior support for nonprofits moral emotions social justice values moral identity |
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