2.1. Motivations for Ethical Consumption
Motivations refer to “the drives, urges, wishes, or desires which initiate the sequence of events known as “behavior” [
32] (p. 282). They occur when a “need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy” [
33] (p. 91). Co-existence of altruistic and egoistic motivations of ethical consumers and complexity of motivations have been discussed in the literature on ethical consumers (e.g., [
27,
28]). Arnocky, Stroink, and DeCiccoc [
34] suggested three types of environmental concerns, egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric concerns based on self-construal concepts. Egoistic environmental concerns based on independent self-construal concepts are positively associated with self-enhancement [
35], while altruistic ones based on interdependent self-construal concepts are positively associated with self-transcendence [
34]. Biospheric environmental concerns based on meta-personal self-construal concepts emphasize the inherent value of environment and correlate with self-transcendence, but not with self-enhancement.
Personal values defined as “concepts or beliefs about desirable end states or behaviors that transcend specific situations, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and are ordered by relative importance” [
36] (p. 551). They are “socially approved as verbal representations of basic motivations” [
37] (p. 137). Self-enhancement (power and achievement) and self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence) represent one of the two basic bipolar dimensions of umbrella value domains covering 10 types of values in Schwartz’s [
38] well-known value theory. Most studies (e.g., [
35,
37,
39]) support the basic idea that as unethical consumer practices engage in focusing on personal interests even at the cost of others, self-enhancement tends to agree with unethical dispositions, while self-transcendence tends to be consistent with ethical dispositions because ethical consumers try to avoid ethical transgressions that can harm others.
Although self-enhancement can be congruent to egoistic environmental concerns [
34], many studies (e.g., [
35,
37,
39]) have found that self-enhancement is negatively associated with an environmental disposition or behavior. Thus, self-enhancement seems to be controversial in being considered as an ethical motivation. More importantly, self-enhancement may limit the contents of egoistic ethical motivations to functional consequences; for example, organic food or environment friendly products for health. However, ethical consumers have psychological or value-driven egoistic, self-oriented, or self-conscious ethical motivations [
27].
This study is based on the model of value-motivated behavior highlighting that values are motivations of behavior [
40]. The value-belief-norm (VBN) theory that explains the movement of environmentalism proposes that personal values become the primary aspect of the green behavior [
41]. Self-actualization and self-transcendence as motivations for ethical consumption may lead consumers’ green restaurant consumption. Moreover, we link pride to self-actualization driving CCB, and healthy social narcissism as hubristic pride to self-transcendence driving CCB, similar to the well-known empathy–altruism hypothesis [
42,
43] postulating that the greater the empathy, the greater the altruistic motivation that drives the altruistic behavior.
2.2. Hypothesis Development
Self-actualization, which is a basic motivation and an integrated type of self-development [
44] and self-enhancement, may be an appropriate self-oriented concept to understand ethical consumers’ motivations. Encompassing “a basic drive toward growth, completeness, and fulfillment” [
45] (p. 598), self-actualization can be regarded as a basic motivation for seeking self-fulfillment [
46]. Knapp [
47] suggested that self-actualization emphasizes the development of an effective and self-fulfilled person [
47]. Maslow [
48] described self-actualization as “the [person’s] desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially” [
48] (p. 382). Self-fulfillment, as an internally oriented value in Homer and Kahle’s [
49] value system, is positively linked to environment-friendly consumption [
50]. Hwang and Kim [
27] found that self-actualization was a vital motivation for ethical consumers’ fair-trade coffee repurchase.
Levenson et al. [
51] explained self-transcendence as “being able to detach from the external definitions of the self and dissolving rigid boundaries between self and other allows for self-transcendence” [
51] (p. 129). Self-transcendence, which has been proved as an altruistic value and motivation, was placed in Maslow’s new hierarchy of motivation and it drives individuals to pursue communal benefits beyond purely personal interests [
52]. Self-transcendence reduces attachment to individuals’ own perspectives, and construal self and increases the extension of care and concern toward others [
53]. Koltko-Rivera [
52] argued that self-transcendence goes beyond the pure self and enables individuals to involve themselves in the service of others, thus surpassing self-actualization in Maslow’s hierarchy.
Beaumont [
54] used self-actualization as a self-related facet and self-transcendence as a social-cognitive process as a framework of personal wisdom in his study, which argued that “self-actualization involves advanced self-development or actuation of growth, whereas self-transcendence involves an ability to expand or transcend the boundaries of one’s ego identity” [
54] (p. 100). Although the previous literature on ethical motivations mainly focuses on altruistic facets (as ethical consumer motivations include both self-oriented or self-conscious and altruistic or social facets), this study proposes a framework of ethical consumers’ motivation based on self-actualization and self-transcendence to yield a novel insight of ethical consumers’ value-driven ethical consumption processes.
As a self-conscious emotion, pride involves self-evaluative processes which produce behavioral standards [
55]. Pride, a pleasant feeling, and positive self-approval are elicited when individuals do something right or good [
56]. Pride as a moral emotion plays as a moral gauge promoting morally and socially acceptable behavior [
57]. As Mascolo and Fischer [
58] emphasized that pride is produced by appraisals associated with responsibility for prosocial outcome and socially valued individuals, pride promotes prosocial behavior as well self-worth. Pride as an ego-focused emotion involves internal state and is closely linked to expression, awareness, and experience [
25]. Carver, Sinclair, and Johnson [
59] argued that pride can be categorized as authentic pride (i.e., feelings of self-worth and self-esteem evoked by self-accomplishment and long-term goal achievement) and hubristic pride (i.e., narcissistic self-aggrandizement based on short-term goal-attainment). Authentic pride is positively linked to self-control [
60] and achievement [
61].
Authentic pride aids in making moral decisions; for example, a decision to allocate resources among group members [
62]. Pride mediates passion and moral behavior [
22]. There is also evidence that pride motivates prosocial behavior [
23]. Goal-achievement generates positive self-appraisal and self-esteem, which in turn, produces authentic pride. Green restaurant consumption incorporates long-term and short-term goal-driven behaviors [
63] that often require complicated decision-making with time and energy consumption to search for information and a choice in a trade-off between different ethical behaviors [
21]. In these green restaurant consumption processes, ethical consumers may feel pride based on the achievement of their value and life goal through green restaurant consumption, which often require efforts and problem-solving processes. The authentic pride is based on accomplishments and produces genuine self-worth [
64]. Maslow [
65] argued that one’s pride in his/her accomplishments became the expression of achieving progress toward self-actualization. This pride, which is based on self-achievement, self-growth, and positive self-esteem, may lead to the self-actualization of ethical consumers. Thus, this study establishes the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1. Pride in green restaurant service consumption is positively associated with green restaurant consumers’ self-actualization.
In this study, the antecedent of self-actualization includes pride. Further, it uses healthy social narcissism as the antecedent of self-transcendence. Healthy social narcissism as a hubristic pride, which is closely linked to pride, and the authentic/hubristic (A/H) model of pride [
64] proposes the pride and narcissism relationships. As discussed, hubristic pride, which is different from authentic pride, is regarded as narcissistic self-aggrandizement and is viewed as a negative psychological trait causing aggressive and antisocial behavior [
59,
66]. However, narcissism, closely linked to pride and high self-esteem, can be viewed normally and positively rather than as a pathological and dysfunctional perspective [
25]. The growing number of narcissists [
67] and non-clinical normal research subjects who indicate psychological traits related to narcissism may make us consider normal or healthy narcissism. According to Naderi and Strutton [
25], two levels of narcissism exist: negative narcissism, which is “clinical, unhealthy, or pathological narcissism,” and positive narcissism, which is “subclinical, healthy, or normal narcissism” [
25] (p. 376). Self-esteem, which has been proven to have consistent and positive link to narcissism (e.g., [
68,
69]), is a vital component of healthy narcissism, and is closely associated with subjective wellbeing [
70] and psychological health. Healthy narcissism embraces a positive aspect of self that focuses on self-investment derived from self-realization [
71] and personal growth [
72], thus leading to the actualization of one’s abilities or potentialities. Moreover, healthy narcissism, assisted by self-esteem [
73], leads to subjective wellbeing [
74]. Hwang and Kim [
27] also found the positive association between healthy social narcissism and self-actualization in the context of fair-trade coffee repurchases.
As narcissists seek to impress and gain admiration from others, they tend to consider the symbolic value of products or services [
24] rather than their utilitarian value. They tend to purchase green products for altruism and their green consumption seems to be motivated by social admiration and visibility [
25]. The narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) comprises four factors including self and social aspects. The leadership/authority dimension correlates with social responsibility, which influences the criticism of the view that narcissism is exclusively a pathological trait and indicates the complexity of narcissism [
75]. The leadership/authority factor represents the ability to influence others and the confidence to be a good leader [
76]. A narcissist might consume ethical products or services to gain leadership to demonstrate their practices of social responsibility. The leadership ability in the NPI is found to be linked to positive interpersonal outcomes, which results in the manifestation of pro-social behavior [
77].
Additionally, narcissism is classified into agentic and communal narcissism in an agency–communion model [
26,
78]. Communal narcissists exaggerate helpfulness or care as communal features and communal knowledge in the agent–communal model, which holds that “narcissism may be understood as an agency–communion trait: an agentic trait that is expressed through communal means” [
74] (p. 855). Although communal narcissism inventory [
26,
78] has been used to measure positive social narcissism, this study emphasizes the existence of healthy or positive social narcissism. Leadership/authority and some other elements of the NPI also exhibit healthy social narcissism. Healthy social narcissists may engage in ethical consumption for social benefit and responsibilities to prove their ethical leadership and enhance their grandiose self-image. Green restaurant consumers with healthy social narcissism may regard green restaurant consumption as a good vehicle to gain social visibility and admiration, because green restaurant consumption is visible and social. Healthy social narcissism or communal narcissism develops self–other relationships and serves interpersonal or social benefits, which can lead to self-transcendence. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 2. Healthy social narcissism is positively associated with self-transcendence.
Self-transcendence as an altruistic value and motivation, was placed in Maslow’s new hierarchy of motivation and it drives individuals to pursue benevolent benefits beyond purely personal interests [
52]. Maslow [
79] included a new zenith, self-transcendence, in his pyramid, and placed it on top of the pyramid. Self-transcendence facilitates self-actualization, and leads individuals to connect to outside of the self. Reischer et al. [
80] contend that “this simultaneity of self-actualization and deep connection to others illustrates the sympathetic nature of self-transcendence”. Koltko-Rivera [
52] argued that self-transcendence enables individuals to involve themselves in the service of others, thus surpassing self-actualization in Maslow’s hierarchy.
Hypothesis 3. Self-actualization is positively associated with self-transcendence.
Although traditional value research focuses on a utilitarian functional value [
81,
82] that determines purchase and repurchase intentions (e.g., [
83,
84,
85]), a perspective of multidimensional value is suggested as a more appropriate view in the context of services [
85,
86]. Consumers may seek socio–psychological value due to the relatively close interaction between service providers and consumers and the heterogeneity of service experiences [
87].
The model of value–motivated behavior highlights that values, typically regarded as the determinants of attitudes and behavior, are motivations of behavior [
40]. The value-belief-norm (VBN) theory that explains the movement of environmentalism with the emphasis of attitudinal and behavioral changes proposes that personal values become the primary aspect of the green behavior [
41]. Self-actualization and self-transcendence as motivations for ethical consumption may lead consumers’ green restaurant consumption. When consumers’ personal values are achieved through service values, consumers are satisfied with the service [
88]. Zhang and Bloemer [
89] found that value congruence, measured by consumers’ perceptions of value congruence between service brand values and their personal values (measured by the Schwartz value), affects their loyalty and positive WOM (word-of mouth).
Some consumers behave more advanced activities than loyalty and WOM to support their favorite brands. Customer voluntary performance (CVP) can be defined as “helpful, discretionary behaviors of customers that support the ability of the firm to deliver service quality” [
90] (p. 384). Recently, customer citizenship behavior (CCB) has received attention [
91,
92,
93]. Groth defined CCB as “voluntary and discretionary behavior of individual customers that is not directly or explicitly expected or rewarded but that in the aggregate, leads to higher quality service and promotes the effective functioning of service organizations” [
92] (p. 13). CCB is especially relevant to service firms [
94]. According to Fowler [
31], CCB has seven dimensions, including affiliation, cooperation, WOM communication, participation, customer voice, flexibility, and policing of other customers. Additionally, Yi and Gong [
95] proposed four dimensions of CCB, including feedback from customers to the employees, tolerance related to patience in case of service failure, advocacy and helping other customers. CCB results in benefits to the customers themselves and other customers as well as service providers [
96]. Bettencourt [
90] presented three broad dimensions of CCB, including loyalty (“customer behaviors indicating allegiance to and promotion of the organization’s interests beyond individual interests”, p. 385), cooperation (“discretionary customer behaviors indicating respect for the provision of quality service delivery”. p. 386) and participation (“customer behaviors indicating active and responsible involvement in the governance and development of the organization”, p. 386). The three sets of CCB dimensions overlap with each other; we used Bettencourt’s [
90] three dimensions that more broadly cover customers’ voluntary behaviors. CCB creates value to customers themselves by providing the sense of belonging, social interaction with other customers, being useful by helping employees and giving feedback to staff [
97]. As ethical consumers can achieve ethical values when they visit green restaurants where ethical practices are carried out, which may lead ethical CCB toward green restaurants [
19]. The green restaurant becomes a value satisfier for ethical consumers. Thus, a green restaurant service can let ethical consumers achieve their ethical values, which drive them to perform CCB to maintain their value fulfilment.
Hypothesis 4. Ethical consumers’ self-actualization is positively associated with their CCB.
Hypothesis 5. Ethical consumers’ self-transcendence is positively associated with their CCB.
The research model includes pride (emotion) and healthy social narcissism (hubristic pride) as influencing factors on self-actualization and self-transcendence as values that lead CCB (
Figure 1). It is based on the value.