Being Moral Motivates Consumers to Work Harder

Research studying moral licensing has suggested that individuals who engage in moral activities subsequently engage in immoral or unethical activities. The current research studies moral licensing in the context of the trait industriousness and indicates that being moral actually motivates individuals to work harder. Previous research on moral licensing has highlighted the negative consequences of past moral actions on subsequent deeds whereas the current research identifies that moral licensing may have a positive impact on subsequent deeds when the moral trait being considered is industriousness. A series of two between subjects’ experiments provides evidence for this theory. In each of the experiments, participants were subject to a moral licensing prime followed by a choice between a difficult and easy task. Results of the experiments confirm the proposed theory. Process level explanation of the findings and marketing implications will be studied further through future experiments.