When Seeking the Best Brings Out the Worst in Consumers: Understanding the Relationship between a Maximizing Mindset and Immoral Behavior

Abstract

Consumers often adopt a goal to choose "the best" option: be it the best value for their money, the product with the highest quality, or the product that offers the best match to their idiosyncratic preferences. Prior work has characterized this orientation as a "maximizing mindset," and has demonstrated that the adoption of a maximizing mindset can lead to both positive and negative consequences for the self. However, to date, little is known about if a maximizing mindset might have consequences beyond the self (i.e., for others and/ or society). The current article addresses this gap by demonstrating that consumers who adopt a maximizing mindset (vs. a neutral mindset) are subsequently more likely to engage in immoral behaviors. Further, we demonstrate that this effect occurs because a maximizing mindset activates cognitions related to scarcity. In doing so, the current research offers a more nuanced understanding of the psychological and behavioral consequences of a maximizing mindset and identifies a maximizing mindset as an antecedent to cognitions related to scarcity and immoral behaviors.

On the Relationship between Pro-Environmental Behavior, Experienced Monetary Costs, and Psychological Gains

“…Scholars from various disciplines have explored the links between behavior and the scarcity of personal resources. For example, some studies even suggest that confronting people with simple cues of scarcity is enough to make them act more selfishly [19,20] and pace a higher value on things they perceive as lacking than they usually do [21], which is pretty much in line with Hobbes' proposition [12]. Further, it is intuitive that an objective scarcity of material resources can cause psychological reactions such as stress and negative feelings.…”

Tópicos em Administração – Volume 36

“…Além disso, a todo o momento ele sofre influência dos outros e isso afeta a forma como decisões são tomadas. Por exemplo, em uma situação de pandemia, um grande número de pessoas decide comprar comida com medo que ocorra um lockdown, isso acaba gerando um efeito de escassez dos alimentos e nesse caso as pessoas tendem a se comportar imoralmente para conseguir comprar o que desejam (Goldsmith, Roux, & Ma, 2018). Ou ainda, quando as pessoas são excluídas socialmente, elas tendem a trocar de produtos para se sentirem incluídas novamente (Su, Jiang, Chen, & Nathan Dewall, 2017).…”

Scarcity and Consumer Decision Making: Is Scarcity a Mindset, a Threat, a Reference Point, or a Journey?

“…Further, it may support the bidirectionality of a relationship between scarcity and a maximizing mindset. A maximizing (vs. satisficing) mindset has been shown to activate feelings of scarcity (Goldsmith, Roux, and Ma 2018), and it is characterized by a preference for large choice sets (Cheek and Schwartz 2016). Interestingly, no research to date has directly tested for scarcity as an antecedent to maximizing tendencies.…”