This research explores the interplay between people’s ethical orientations and the types of identities (group vs. individual) they consider more central to their sense of self. Specifically, it shows that formalism (making moral decisions based on a set of standard rules/principles) is associated with greater importance of group identity affiliations (e.g., nationality, gender group, religion) while utilitarianism (arriving at right-wrong judgments based on the overall well-being/harm outcomes arising from any action) is linked to caring more about individual identity attributes (e.g., intelligence, creativity, environmentalism). We further show how these associations play out in consumer contexts such as charitable giving and responses to identity-offending advertisements.
Journal: Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
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