The Emotional Self of Responsible Consumers: An Exploratory Study

Research on moral behavior has emphasized the role of emotions as a constitutive part of moral identity. This paper aims to describe the emotional self of responsible consumers, by identifying the self-constituting emotions of responsible consumers’ identity. After analyzing 30 interviews with responsible consumers, we conclude that five are the emotions that prototypically characterize responsible consumers: empathy, gratitude, (moral) anger, hope, and nostalgia. All are considered other-focused emotions and are strongly linked to the key goals consumers report have in life. The implications of these findings are then discussed and further research lines are suggested.