The nexus between moral licensing and behavioral consistency: Is organic consumption a door-opener for commitment to climate protection?

Organic consumption and the commitment to climate protection via carbon offsetting are important for the protection of global natural resources. This paper analyzes the relationship between these behaviors and examines factors that explain behavioral (in) consistency across these behavioral fields. Thereby, we examine the influence of priming by an “organic offer” on subsequent monetary donations via carbon offsetting. Here, for the first time, we investigate the interaction between priming, ethical mindsets (rule-based or outcome-based mindsets), environmental values and moral identity. The study is based on a laboratory experiment with students which was conducted in December 2017 (n = 226). The main results show that the three-way interaction between priming by an “organic offer,” rule-based mindsets and environmental values is associated with a higher likelihood for actual carbon offsetting. Furthermore, the findings indicate that moral identity neither interact with rule-based nor with outcome-based mindsets. However, an interaction between priming by an “organic offer” and outcome-based mindsets leads to a lower likelihood for carbon offsetting, which speaks for moral licensing effects.