Moral foundations and judgment: conceptualizing boundaries

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Purpose: Even though the definitions of morality may seem to provide straightforward criteria to assess the morality of individuals, moral judgments are challenging and less exact. This paper aims to advance extant work on morality and moral judgment by providing a conceptualization of boundary conditions in the relationship between moral judgments and consumer behavior. Design/methodology/approach: An interdisciplinary literature review is conducted to integrate extant knowledge on morality, moral judgment and consumer behavior to identify and conceptualize boundary conditions affecting moral judgments and decision-making. The research draws on moral foundation theory and norm activation model, and the proposed factors and relationships are grounded in construal level theory and regulatory focus theory. Findings: The research identifies cultural, individual and situational factors that influence moral judgments and decision-making and argues that moral judgments exhibit a similar pattern across types, but cultural factors determine the salience of each moral foundation type. Moreover, construal factors relevant to the situation (i.e. proximity vs distance) affect the extent and manner of moral judgments, and individual mindsets and their associated information processing styles (e.g. money vs time orientation and promotion vs prevention orientation) make moral judgments more malleable, adding a degree of variability to judgments within similar cultures and situations. Originality/value: The research makes a rather unique contribution to consumer morality literature by identifying and discussing three different groups of factors with the potential to impact individuals’ judgments of, and reactions to, moral foundation violation information.

Publication Title

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Publication Date

2019

Volume

36

Issue

3

First Page

356

Last Page

365

ISSN

0736-3761

DOI

10.1108/JCM-01-2018-2548

Keywords

consumer behavior, moral foundation, moral judgment, morality

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