Green consumption does not make people cheat: Three attempts to replicate moral licensing effect due to pro-environmental behavior

Green consumption does not make people cheat: Three replications of a moral licensing experiment (more recent version was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.01.011)

10.31234/osf.io/wynjb ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Jan Urban ◽

Štěpán Bahník ◽

Markéta Braun Kohlová

Keyword(s):

Environmental Psychology ◽

Original Study ◽

Total N ◽

Green Consumption ◽

Moral Licensing ◽

Cross Domain ◽

Cast Doubt ◽

Recent Version

A recent study (Mazar & Zhong, 2010) argued that green consumption may serve as a moral license and thus lead to subsequent dishonest behavior. In our three replications of the study (total N = 1,274), two of which were preregistered, participants’ level of green consumption was manipulated by having them purchase goods in either a green or conventional store. Three different tasks which allowed participants to cheat for monetary profit were used to measure dishonesty across the experiments. We found no effect of green consumption on subsequent honesty. These results cast doubt on the size of the effect found in the original study and suggest that green consumption is unlikely to trigger a cross-domain moral licensing effect.

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Once Good, Always Good? Testing Nudge’s Spillovers on Pro Environmental Behavior

Environment and Behavior ◽

10.1177/00139165211060524 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001391652110605

Author(s):

Sophie Clot ◽

Marina Della Giusta ◽

Sarah Jewell

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Change ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Actual Behavior ◽

Case Scenario ◽

Original Experiment ◽

Worst Case ◽

Common Assumption ◽

Comprehensive View ◽

Worst Case Scenario ◽

Moral Licensing

It is a common assumption to believe that encouraging pro environmental behavior (PEB) in one domain would lead to increased PEB in other domains (best-case scenario) or just be restricted to the initial targeted domain (worst-case scenario). Evidence from a rapidly growing literature on moral licensing suggests that interventions targeting behavioral change could lead to an even worse scenario, with individuals starting to underperform in one domain, as a compensation for their good performance in other domains. We propose to study the dynamic of PEBs when individuals are exposed to a specific nudge (priming) via an original experiment designed to capture actual behavior. We found that priming could increase PEB, but does not thwart moral licensing. Primed individuals end up doing worse than non-primed individual under a moral licensing condition. A more comprehensive view of the mechanisms underlying behavioral change is essential to support sustainable policies.

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ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN BRAZILIAN AND PORTUGUESE STUDENTS

Ambiente & sociedade ◽

10.1590/1809-4422asoc139099v1932016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 113-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

PEDRO LUIZ CÔRTES ◽

ANTÓNIO GUERNER DIAS ◽

MARIA EDUARDA DA SILVA TEIXEIRA FERNANDES ◽

JORGE MANUEL VIEIRA PAMPLONA

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Environmental Attitudes ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Point Of View ◽

Statistical Techniques ◽

Multivariate Statistical Techniques ◽

Multivariate Statistical ◽

Green Consumption ◽

Environmental Beliefs

Abstract Although undergraduate students have great access to environmental information, it does not mean that an environmental behavior is being developed. With the use of a scale applied to 1035 university students from Brazil and Portugal, it was examined how the environmental behavior of these students is structured. Using multivariate statistical techniques, it was verified that there is a similarity in the environmental behavior of both groups, with environmental beliefs being manifested by an opposition to the anthropocentric view. The environmental attitudes have the concerns related to the environment as their predecessor. These concerns influence the option to control economic growth, which is reinforced by the ecocentric point of view of the respondents and is manifested by the perspective of a decrease in production and in consumption as well as the promotion of welfare. Although there is a tendency, the option for green consumption is not fully accomplished.

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The Effects of Temporal Discounting on Perceived Seriousness of Environmental Behavior: Exploring the Moderator Role of Consumer Attitudes Regarding Green Purchasing

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13137130 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 7130

Author(s):

Ana Rita Farias ◽

Seray Coruk ◽

Cláudia Simão

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Temporal Discounting ◽

Moderating Effect ◽

Psychological Variables ◽

Green Consumption ◽

Perceived Seriousness ◽

Emerging Issues ◽

Green Purchasing ◽

The Relationship

Emerging issues related to climate change have been explored in recent years as the need for appropriate behavioral solutions grows. However, one of the main problems raised and yet to be solved is the challenge to encourage people to act against climate change. One of the identified barriers is the mental indirect link between the influence of human activities in the present and their future consequences. This psychological distance could be investigated by examining temporal discounting—the overvaluation of benefits in the present compared to benefits in the future—and its relationship to environmental behavior on consumers’ attitudes toward green purchasing. In this research, we conducted a survey (n = 337) to examine the relationship between temporal discounting and perceived seriousness of environmental behavior and investigated the moderating effect of consumers’ attitudes regarding green purchasing. The results show a moderating effect of these consumers’ attitudes on the relationship between temporal discounting and perceived seriousness of environmental behavior. These findings make important contributions to environmental policies by rethinking and adapting new solutions that promote behavioral change, namely by exploring psychological variables and identifying green consumption profiles.

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On the Relationship between Pro-Environmental Behavior, Experienced Monetary Costs, and Psychological Gains

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11195467 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 5467 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mathias Zannakis ◽

Sverker Molander ◽

Lars-Olof Johansson

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Eating Habits ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Psychological Resources ◽

Consumer Behaviors ◽

Environmental Behaviors ◽

Green Consumption ◽

Relational Resources

Drawing on the emerging scarcity, abundance, and sufficiency (SAS) framework, this study explores how various consumer behaviors with potential environmental impacts relate to subjective evaluations of psychological resources such as economic resources, time, social networks, and emotional support. Assuming that individuals may “trade” the costs and efforts of green consumption, including the buying of eco-labeled goods, altered eating habits, and choice of transportation mode, against such psychological resources, we investigate the relationships between green consumer choices and resource evaluations using hierarchical regression analysis of data from an online panel survey. The results suggest that green consumer behaviors are positively related to subjectively evaluated resources such as feelings of economic sufficiency and other, more “relational” resources, including social networks and emotional support. Performing such behaviors may therefore lead to psychological gains. These findings do paint a rather positive picture of environmental behaviors, since they may thus be viewed as having a personal positive trade-off. Although directional effects cannot be firmly established, our study suggests that pro-environmental behavior may increase wellbeing and experienced prosperity. Future studies should further investigate these causalities and implications of these suggested relationships.

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