2006/12/13 by Americus Reed, Karl Aquino, Eric P. Levy · 3 citations
Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · Neuroscience · #Ethics in Business and Education #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
paper · doi:10.1509/jmkg.71.1.178
openalex publication_date 2006/12/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
In several studies, the authors examine the potential to leverage a consumer's moral identity to enhance brand and company identification and promote goodwill through community relations. Studies 1a and 1b show that even when opportunity costs are equivalent (subjectively or economically), consumers who also have a highly self-important moral identity perceive the act of giving time versus money as more moral and self-expressive. The authors extend these findings to self-reported preferences and establish boundary conditions in two additional studies. Consumers with higher organizational status prefer to give money versus time, but this preference is weaker for those with a highly self-important moral identity (Study 2), and the preference for giving time versus money is more likely to emerge when the moral self is primed and the time given has a moral purpose (Study 3).