How Moral Licensing Impacts Sustainability Choices

Did you know that for some people, making good choices for the environment can result in other behavior that’s less virtuous?

I’d never heard of this until I read The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal. She writes about many aspects of self-control, and one of the most fascinating to me is about moral licensing.

This doesn’t only apply to environmental choices – this can happen after behavior we consider good. It was eye-opening, and it also got me thinking about what this means from a marketing standpoint.

What is moral licensing?

But first, let’s take a step back to understand what moral licensing is.

It starts with placing judgment on activities or things by saying they’re good or bad. This then leads you to think of yourself as good or bad, based on what you do.

And it turns out that if you do something that falls into the good category, you feel good about yourself. So good that you might decide you’ve earned the right to do something that typically falls into the bad category.

Except in this case, you don’t think of it as bad, per se. You now think of it as a reward or treat for the good thing you did.

What’s interesting is that the good and bad activities don’t have to be related to each other. For example, if someone brings reusable bags to the grocery store, they might then buy ice cream as a treat – even though they probably wouldn’t have bought the ice cream if they left their bags at home.

The stranger part is that you don’t even need to act. Simply thinking about making a good decision can lead you to rewarding yourself.

As McGonigal writes: “In a business simulation, managers of a manufacturing plant are less likely to take costly measures to reduce the plant’s pollution if they have recently recalled a time when they acted ethically.” (p. 84)

Also: “Another study found that merely considering donating money to a charity – without actually handing over any cash – increased people’s desire to treat themselves at the mall.” (p. 85)

Sustainability and moral licensing

This is rather disturbing, and it has an impact on sustainability in a few ways.

One is with what’s called the halo effect. This happens when we give in to temptation if it gives us the feeling of doing good.

For example, someone concerned about the impact of eating meat might actually eat more meat if it’s from animals that are free of antibiotics and raised on organic food. A better choice might be a combination of eating less meat, as well as being conscious of how that meat was produced.

The other problem is that certain choices make you feel like you’ve earned “green credentials.” And when you have enough credentials, you consider yourself free to stop thinking about environmental issues because you’ve already done your part.

As McGonigal points out, “It can be overwhelming to think about the magnitude of climate change…. Anything that lets us feel like we have done our part… [leaves us guilt-free] to resume our usual wasteful ways. So… planting a tree becomes license to travel more, and changing your lightbulb can become license to live in a bigger, energy-hungry house.” (p. 103)

When moral licensing doesn’t come into play

This can sound rather discouraging, so it’s good to know it doesn’t always happen.

McGonigal points out that this type of rewarding is more common when you do something to counteract what feels like bad behavior. For example, buying a carbon offset when you fly somewhere could prompt you to fly more.

But if you replace a negative behavior with something more beneficial, you’re less likely to indulge in something less virtuous. One example is changing the source of your electricity to come from solar or wind, at least in part.

The difference here is that paying extra for that replacement highlights your identity as an environmentalist. This reinforces your values and encourages you to find other ways of living in alignment with those values.

How to think about this with marketing

This raises some interesting points from a marketing perspective.

One is that it helps simply to understand how people’s brains work in this situation. If people read your information but end up going with a less sustainable solution, maybe it’s because of moral licensing. Perhaps they feel good about even considering your product or service – good enough that they don’t feel obligated to act on it.

But of course, you want people to act despite this. That leaves you with a couple of options:

• Highlight other benefits: Helping the environment is good, but you might get a better response if you also emphasize other benefits. I mentioned this in an earlier newsletter in relation to not identifying too much with your audience. Moral licensing is another reason to focus on more than just the green-friendly aspect of what you do.
• Align with their values: The other approach is to show how using your product or service aligns with the way your prospect thinks of themselves. If you can help them feel pride in their environmental focus, instead of making them feel like they’re balancing out being bad, they may be more inclined to act on your offer.

Watch for moral licensing

Do you think moral licensing plays a part in people’s environmental (or other) decisions? Have you seen examples of this?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so I invite you to leave a comment below.

As for me, I’ve certainly seen this with people’s eating choices. But now I’m going to watch for more instances – in others, and myself. I’m curious to see what I’ll find.