Research projects

This research examines how moral claims influence consumer preferences for hedonic goods. While marketers often use moral claims—such as promoting sustainable ingredients, worker welfare, or animal cruelty standards—to attract consumers, the study reveals a nuanced effect. Specifically, the impact of moral claims depends on consumers' initial attitudes toward the product. For consumers with a low baseline preference for the hedonic good, moral claims significantly increase purchase likelihood by an average of 20.1 percentage points. Conversely, for consumers who initially had a high baseline preference, adding a moral claim decreased their purchase likelihood by 14.7 percentage points. Those with medium baseline preferences showed minimal change. This diverging pattern suggests that while moral claims can successfully attract hesitant consumers, they may alienate those already inclined to purchase the product.

The study involved 900 online participants, divided into three groups based on their initial purchase likelihood. Further analysis explored whether changes in hedonic and moral evaluations of the product drove the observed effects. Results showed that hedonic evaluations increased for the low baseline group but decreased significantly for the high baseline group. However, moral evaluations consistently improved across all groups. This suggests that while moral claims universally boost the product's perceived moral value, they may undermine the hedonic appeal for those already interested in the product.

These findings highlight the strategic consideration needed when adding moral claims to hedonic products. While moral messaging can broaden appeal among less interested consumers, it risks dampening enthusiasm among existing fans, challenging the conventional wisdom that more morality always translates to broader appeal. 

This research is ongoing, and it has not been published.