Harnessing the Power of Moral Self-awareness
As Shakespeare put it in Twelfth Night, “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Indeed, many of today’s high-profile business leaders are having greatness thrust upon them, with the vast majority facing new challenges in addressing social and environmental impact awareness. Some have even become caught up in reputational storms due in large part to the lack of a comprehensive social impact strategy. Ethics scandals from Volkswagen and Wells Fargo to Uber, Ryanair and Facebook have jolted executive suites into realizing that stakeholders increasingly expect the businesses they engage with to integrate social responsibility into business strategy.
And, make no mistake, marketers of natural products are even more exposed than other leaders to the scrutiny that this sort of pressure elicits because of the nature of the products they sell. These goods are meant to be good for you and the planet. Indeed, savvy health and wellness-driven consumers are probably asking themselves what else the company should do to address social and environmental concerns.
Moreover, sustainability and social responsibility are concepts embodied in most brand mission statements, and some contain a vision of helping the world realize a greener future. Consumers of all generations expect that marketers “walk the talk.” A truly contemporary brand cannot have a mission that is comprised of platitudes. It must be authentic. It must be achievable.
Equal Emphasis
Top business leaders are hence coming to grips with the need to decide which ethical principles their companies should stand for. As a matter of fact, Business Roundtable, an influential and high-profile group of 200 CEOs, has upgraded its definition of “corporate purpose” by placing an equal emphasis on corporate responsibilities toward stakeholders, such as customers, employees, suppliers and the environment, at par with shareholder responsibilities. Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest investment firm, has publicly announced that his firm’s clients now expect that the companies in which they invest will develop a clear social purpose.
A survey of 3,800 respondents conducted by the London Business School reports that fostering a responsible culture, demonstrating integrity and a commitment to long-term sustainability has become as crucial as maximizing shareholder returns. This dual-purpose push is coming largely from consumers who recognize that social responsibility from the sidelines is no longer enough. The pressure is arising from massive growth in inequality within much of the developed as well as the developing world and increasing evidence that the effects of climate change could be devastating for humanity as a whole. As a result, investors and business leaders are coming to grips with the realization that short-term profitability and long-term sustainability may be in conflict, and that social responsibility must thus move beyond an afterthought and become integrated at the strategic level.
If you read publications such as The Wall Street Journal (and you probably should), then you know that this “equal emphasis” attitude is highly controversial and is by no means a prevailing philosophy among for-profit business leaders. But this may change, and from our perspective it has been changing, albeit very slowly for the past 50 years or so. Corporate response to these external issues is nothing new, and consumer concern for these issues is not merely a passing fad. Perhaps these CEOs, who have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, are just placating an increasingly prickly stakeholder base. But maybe they really see value in committing to a more sustainable strategic path.
As one of the authors of this piece (the former president of Green Marketing, Inc.) has recommended in articles over the past two decades, developing and maintaining a sustainability plan with measurable objectives for social and environmental improvement across multiple areas, is the best way get things done and communicate with stakeholders about your efforts. We will take a trip down Memory Lane and revisit the “The Green Imperative” (circa 2003) in the next Building Better Brands article. This concept is even more relevant today than it was 20 years ago when it was developed. In any case, achieving and sustaining such a transformation will require rebranding for social impact by reframing our conception of success beyond mere financial performance. Focusing solely on profit is increasingly viewed by Americans as a narrow-minded perspective, and this view has accelerated in the years since the traumatic global financial crisis of 2008. We believe a true path toward a “deep green” orientation comprising sustainability and social responsibility is rooted in leveraging the motivational power of moral self-awareness across stakeholders.
Moral Self-awareness
Social psychology literature has established a relationship between the self-importance of moral identity and the outcome of moral thought and action. To this end, there is evidence that ethical consumers are happier and have stronger repurchase intentions when motivated by their moral self-image than when motivated by more traditional moral emotions, such as guilt and empathy. This indicates that individuals are more likely to engage in responsible economic behavior (i.e., purchasing natural and organic products) when they focus on how their actions reflect upon themselves than when they focus solely on the potential environmental harm or suffering that they may be helping to alleviate by shopping more responsibly. Brand marketers must bear this in mind when crafting brand identity and managing brand image in the marketplace. Guiding customers and other stakeholders along the path of increasing moral self-awareness is the most effective way of defining and solidifying a responsible brand image.
Moral self-awareness (MSA)—a motivational model developed by one of the authors of this piece—is a four-stage evolving mindset informed by reflection on moral identity, namely what one’s actions say about oneself given (a) the negative impact on others or society that one’s action may effect, and (b) what one contributes to others and/or society by taking a given action. As such, driven mainly by pride and shame avoidance, MSA suggests that potentially painful emotional triggers of shame, guilt and empathy become progressively less important at each successive stage of self-awareness, ultimately becoming unnecessary at the highest level of awareness. In this manner, the MSA approach relies on the more basic level of prosocial self-reflection that does not require adherence to abstract philosophical concepts, thus holding far greater potential to motivate the vast majority of consumers. Brand identity that leverages positive MSA allows consumers to enjoy a bonding self-actualizing vision of themselves as engaged in a compact of shared values. A well-managed marketing campaign can lead customers along the path of increasing MSA by meeting them where they are at the time of communication, and nudging them self-reflectively toward the higher levels.
MSA Level 1 – Social Reflection
At the first level, individuals rely chiefly upon negative feedback from observers to guilt or shame them into improving their behavior.
MSA Level 2 – Self-Reflection
At the second level, individuals become more self-reflective. Rather than relying solely on outside observers to bring negative impacts on others to their attention, actors themselves start to take on the role as their own source of feedback—often following another person’s positive example.
MSA Level 3 – Anticipatory Self-Reflection
At the third level, individuals start to become forward looking, conceiving of potential negative impacts on others before acting. This forward-looking behavior often comes after self-reflection on prior behavior has led to an internal sense of guilt or shame.
MSA Level 4 – Proactive Self-Reflection
At the fourth, and highest, level, individuals become increasingly forward looking, considering not just their potential negative impacts on others, but their potential positive impacts and purposely engage in appropriate actions in order to realize those positive outcomes. At this highest level, individuals internalize the ideal of the self as potential hero rather than potential villain.
Leveraging the Branding Power of Moral Self-awareness
Understanding where various segments of your market potential stand in terms of MSA is crucial to brand success. Business leaders have an important part to play in rebranding the purpose of their organizations and communicating it to stakeholders, including consumers. Framing business goals in terms of MSA can make a significant difference by guiding stakeholders to reflect existentially on the purpose and efficacy of their activities, which must include enhancing human wellbeing in tangible ways. Such realization is emblematic of level four MSA for it turns ethical responsibility into a matter of moral identity.
Let’s face it, this is 2020, profit is and should be one of the primary drivers of organizational purpose, but contemporary leaders are realizing that they must think far beyond the bottom line. Progress in this direction has been rather slow, yet it has been very steady; and there is ample evidence that interest in sustainability and social responsibility is increasing among the stakeholder community. So, if making a profit while making a difference, doing well by doing good, and embracing a more conscious form of capitalism is the wave of the future, then moral self-awareness might very well be its foundation. NIE
Darrin C. Duber-Smith is senior lecturer at Metropolitan State University of Denver and has almost 30 years of natural products industry experience. Julian Friedland is assistant professor and coordinator of Global Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Metropolitan State University of Denver and has more than 20 years’ experience as an educator, researcher and strategist in the field.
