Sustainable Consumption Decisions in Dilemma Situations: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Moral Judgment in Consumption
(A2023-114320)

AUTHORS

Anna-Lena Sager, Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel), Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Department of Marketing; Sebastian Müller, Center for Life Ethics, Uni Bonn; Nils Hoffmann, Kiel University; Stefan Hoffmann, Kiel University; Ludger Heidbrink, Kiel University

ABSTRACT

Many studies concerning ethical consumer behavior show that consumers do have an aware-ness of sustainable consumption, but are unable or unwilling to translate it into everyday be-havior. However, research regarding the attitude-behavior gap could be contained by applying the Defining-Issues-Test (DIT), a method based on Kohlberg’s stages of moral development which allows empirical statements about individuals’ moral judgment. This article describes the approach of the DIT and shows that a transfer of the method, which has so far mainly been used in psychology and educational science, to business research has great potential. The study follows the call for research on factors influencing consumers’ understanding of com-plex moral propositions in dilemmas and contributes to literature by adding the normative judgment scores P- and N2 score to consumer research. There are positive influences of age, education, need for cognition and sustainability attitude on the ethical judgment ability.