Feeling right about doing right, even if it was difficult? Emotional and behavioral consequences of conflict during ethical consumer decision-making

Many consumer choices nowadays involve ethical considerations (e.g., when buying clothes consumers can often choose between a standard and an ethically produced collection). Previous work has shown that how people feel after such ethically connotated consumer choices is a central determinant of their future ethical consumer behavior. However, most of that research focuses on the effect of choice outcomes (ethical vs. unethical product) on emotional and behavioral reactions. Challenging this outcome-focused approach, the present paper proposes that the experience of conflict (e.g., between ethical goals vs. self-interest) during decision-making has a significant additional effect on emotional reactions and future behavior. Results from one fully powered, preregistered study (N = 383) showed that conflict strength predicted increased negative post-choice emotions and reduced choice satisfaction. Importantly, this pattern occurred for ethical as well as unethical choice outcomes. Conflict also increased the likelihood of making the opposite choice in a subsequent ethical consumer choice situation-again independent of participants' prior choice. Those results are an important extension of previous work as they highlight the importance of taking experienced conflict into account when predicting post-choice emotions and future ethical consumer behavior.

Automated summary

Consumer choices often involve ethical considerations, and experiencing conflict between ethical goals and self-interest during decision-making can significantly impact post-choice emotions and future behavior. Research has shown that conflict strength predicts increased negative emotions and decreased choice satisfaction, regardless of whether the choice outcome is ethical or unethical. Taking experienced conflict into account is important when predicting post-choice emotions and future ethical consumer behavior.