Consistent Or License:The Role Of Self-Construal And Moral Identity On Subsequent Pro-environmental Decision

Environmental problems have seriously threatened the sustainable development of society.A large number of studies have focused on the drivers of pro-environmental decisions.However,most of the existing research has traditionally focused on one-time decisions and has not yet deeply explored how to encourage long-term,stable proenvironment behavior.The sustainable development of society requires individuals to switch to a generally sustainable lifestyle rather than to a targeted behaviour domain.Therefore,it is important to consider sequences of behavior and the sequential consequences of initial pro-environmental behavior.Initial studies have found that initial pro-environmental behaviors may either enhance(consistent effect)or weaken(permissive effect)subsequent pro-environmental behaviors.According to the selfperception theory,initial pro-environmental behavior can activate the individual’s inner pro-environmental tendency,which may therefore increase the likelihood of proenvironmental consumer choices being made.On the contrary,based on the logic of moral licensing effect,an initial pro-environmental behavior helps an individual "earn"credits in a metaphorical moral bank account that can be used to "buy" forgiveness for their unsustainable behaviors.Consistent effect and licensing effect are supported by a large number of empirical studies.However,the boundary conditions of these two effects have not cleared yet.Based on the perspective of consumers’ self-others relationship cognition,this study predicted that the consistent effect and licensing effect of sequential proenvironment consumption decisions depend on consumers’ self-construal and moral identity.Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of self-construal and moral identity on consumers’ sequential pro-environment consumption decisions.In Study 1,three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of selfconstrual on consumers’ sequential pro-environmental decision-making,mediating mechanism and boundary conditions.The results show that the interaction between self-construal and initial pro-environmental behavior is significant,which is mediated by goal commitment and perceived goal progress.Specifically,consumers with interdependent self-construal are more likely to represent initial pro-environmental behaviors as commitment to environmental goals,so initial pro-environmental behaviors lead to more pro-environmental behavior in subsequent consumption decisions.However,consumers with independent self-construal are more likely to represent initial pro-environmental behaviors as the progress toward the goal of helping environment,which licenses their less pro-environmental decisions in sequential consumption decision.Finally,the moderating role of others’ prior pro-environmental behavior in the effects of initial pro-environmental behaviors on subsequent sustainable consumption decisions is tested.When information on others’ widespread participation in initial pro-environmental behavior is provided,as compared with when information on low social participation in initial pro-environmental behavior or no information is provided,the impact of independent self-construal on sequential pro-environment consumption decision will be weaker,and the impact of interdependent self-construal on sequential pro-environment consumption decision will be stronger.In Study 2,two experiments were conducted to examine the impact of moral identity on consumers’ sequential pro-environmental decision-making and its mediating mechanism.The results show that when consumers are high in moral identity internalization and low in moral identity symbolization,they are more likely to represent initial pro-environmental behavior as commitment to their environmental goals,so initial pro-environmental behaviors will lead to more pro-environmental behavior in subsequent consumption decisions.However,consumers with low moral identity internalization and high moral identity symbolization are more likely to represent initial pro-environmental behaviors as the progress of environmental goals,then show less preference for sustainable products in sequential consumption decision.Together,these results shed light on the subsequent consequences of sustainable product selection for consumers,test the moderating role of self-construal and moral identity,and propose the mediating role of goal commitment and perceived goal progress with implications for the marketing and regulation of such products.The theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study are as follows.Firstly,this study is helpful to expand the research of sequential pro-environmental consumption decision-making.Previous studies have found that initial proenvironmental decisions may enhance or weaken subsequent pro-environmental consumption decisions.Based on self-consistency and moral licensing effect,this paper tests the consistency effect and licensing effect of sequential pro-environmental consumption decision respectively.Specifically,this study integrates the two effects through the same theoretical framework,and explores the boundary conditions for the occurrence of the two effects from the perspective of self-others relationship cognition,which contributes to the research of sequential pro-environment consumption decisionmaking.Secondly,this paper enriches the application of self-construal theory in sequential pro-environment decision-making.Self-construal is always strongly linked to cultural background.This work focuses on the role of self-construal in consistency effect and licensing effect,and examines how self-construal affects individuals’interpretation of goal related behaviors as goal progress or commitment to goals.The results show that people with independent self-construal are more likely to represent their initial consumption decisions as the progress of goals,resulting in licensing effect,while people with interdependent self-construal are more likely to represent their initial consumption decisions as the commitment to goals,resulting in consistency effect,which contributes to the theory of self-construal.Thirdly,this study contributes to research on moral identity by highlighting the difference between moral identity internalization and symbolization.There is no empirical study on how moral identity moderate the effect of initial pro-environmental behavior on subsequent proenvironmental behavior.And it is the first to provide direct evidence that two dimensions of moral identity(internalization and symbolization)determine whether self-consistency or moral licensing serve as the dominant logic.Specifically,it is found that internalization of moral identity can highlight the commitment to environment goals of initial sustainable consumption behaviors and weaken the perceived progress of environment goals,while symbolization of moral identity can weaken the commitment to environment goals of initial sustainable consumption behaviors and enhance the perceived progress of environment goals.In marketing practice,on the one hand,consumers’ self-construal and moral identity should be fully considered in the formulation of pro-environment consumption marketing strategy.Marketers can use marketing strategies to activate and influence consumers’ moral identity and self-construal,so as to improve consumers’ sequential pro-environment decision-making.Prior research on moral identity shows that moral identity can be temporarily activated and will have effects consistent with those of chronically important moral identity.Similarly,different types of self-construal also can be activated temporarily.Marketers can utilize product advertisements and labels to temporarily activate consumers’ moral identity internalization and interdependent self-construal.On the other hand,the current research focuses on a managerially relevant context in terms of consumers’selection of environmentally sustainable product options but also has implications for public policy makers.Responsible public policy makers should fully consider consumers’ self-construal and moral identity.This study shows that the initial choice of sustainable products may reduce the subsequent purchase intention for sustainable products of consumers with independent selfconstrual and high moral identity symbolization,and increase the subsequent purchase intention for sustainable products of consumers with interdependent self-construal and high moral identity internalization.The moral licensing effect is a major obstacle to driving sustainable consumption.In order to reduce(or reverse)the licensing effect in the context of subsequent consumption of sustainable products,public policy makers should try to activate consumers’ interdependent self-construal or enhance moral identity internalization combined with sustainable product promotion.