Consumer Ethics: The Antecedents and Consequences of the Consumer's Guilt and Regret in Purchasing Decisions

Sin is a feeling that arises from the emphasis on morality. From a marketing perspective, guilt is a negative self-awareness within the individual and the individual, which can lead to future consumer decisions, and this guilt with regrets, is one of the main challenges for marketing managers in maintaining customer loyalty and satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents and consequences of consumer guilt and regret in purchasing decisions.

The present study was qualitative and phenomenological. The study population consisted of buyers of highly mentally challenged goods such as homes, cars, travel, cell phones, and home appliances with whom they had lived a life of regret. Among them, 21 people were selected as a sample based on multiple targeted sampling method (intensity and snowball). Data were collected using in-depth interviews. In the analysis stage, the data were analyzed through the process of continuous data comparison and open, axial and selective coding, as well as cognitive mapping analysis, concepts, categories and themes.

The findings show the extraction of 338 concepts by open coding. Considering the relationship between concepts at the axial coding level, 23 categories have been identified. In the selective coding stage, 9 themes were identified and finally, based on the cognitive mapping approach, 4 relational themes were extracted.

Individual effective factors and perceived risk in the socio-economic and cultural context cause feelings of guilt and remorse in the consumer, which leads to consumer emotional reactions and abandonment of shopping. Conflict and irreversibility of the decision were also identified as intervention conditions.