No Evidence of Within-Domain Moral Licensing in the Environmental Domain

Several studies have suggested that people might be less likely to engage in proenvironmental behavior subsequent to their prior engagement in proenvironmental behavior. We have conducted a preregistered replication of one such recent study of within-domain licensing in the area of environmental pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment and behavior Vol. 53; no. 10; pp. 1070 - 1094
Main Authors: Urban, Jan, Braun Kohlová, Markéta, Bahník, Štěpán
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Attitudes
Behavior
Domains
Energy policy
Environmental attitudes
Environmental protection
Internet
Licensing
Mediation
Perception
Perceptions
Replication
Reproducibility
Self concept
Self image
moral licensing
environmental attitude
Bayesian analysis
proenvironmental behavior
Campbell paradigm
ISSN:0013-9165, 1552-390X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Several studies have suggested that people might be less likely to engage in proenvironmental behavior subsequent to their prior engagement in proenvironmental behavior. We have conducted a preregistered replication of one such recent study of within-domain licensing in the area of environmental protection. Our replication was extended with an analysis of self-perception as a potential mediator of licensing and environmental attitude as its moderator. The results of our web-based experiment (N = 1,765) show that recollection of past proenvironmental behavior does not diminish subsequent support of a proenvironmental energy policy or proenvironmental intention, and that environmental attitude does not moderate licensing. We only found some evidence of an indirect effect of recollection on subsequent policy support and proenvironmental intention, mediated by self-perception; the pattern of mediation is, however, inconsistent with the licensing theory. We have not replicated the licensing effect observed in the original study.
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ISSN:0013-9165
1552-390X
DOI:10.1177/0013916520942604