Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model

Abstract

The Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model is a psychometric evaluation framework developed by Mertcan Taşcıoğlu (2025) to investigate the complex structural interrelationships among consumer ethical self-concept, cultural orientation, status-seeking motivations, and environmentally responsible behaviors. Built upon foundational constructs in consumer behavior, social psychology, and environmental ethics, the model incorporates 19 operationalized items across six core subscales: Collectivist Mindset, Moral Identity Internalization, Moral Identity Symbolization, Sustainable Consumption Buying, Sustainable Consumption Curtailment, and Status Consumption. Items are rated on a standard five-point Likert scale. The structural configuration was empirically calibrated and validated using a sample of Turkish university students following a rigorous translation and back-translation methodology, accompanied by pretesting and item-total correlation screening that eliminated suboptimal items below the 0.3 threshold. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated robust goodness-of-fit indices (CFI = 0.94, IFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.08, p < 0.001), corroborating the theoretical six-factor structure. Convergent validity was established with average variance extracted (AVE) estimates exceeding the benchmark of 0.50 across all latent factors, alongside composite reliability (CR) coefficients exceeding 0.70. Discriminant validity was firmly demonstrated using the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT), with all values remaining below the strict 0.85 threshold. Assessment of common method variance via Harman’s single-factor test revealed a single factor accounting for only 39.7% of total variance, mitigating concerns regarding common method bias. The model provides marketing researchers, environmental psychologists, and behavioral economists with an empirical tool to capture how prestige-seeking tendencies moderate or redirect personal morality toward green consumption.

Keywords

Collectivist Mindset, Moral Identity Internalization, Moral Identity Symbolization, Status Consumption, Sustainable Consumption Buying, Sustainable Consumption Curtailment, Consumer Ethics, Pro-Environmental Behavior, Structural Equation Modeling, Psychometrics

Authors

The Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model was formulated and validated by Mertcan Taşcıoğlu.

• Institutional Affiliation: Department of Management, Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Correspondence Address: Istanbul Medeniyet University, Department of Management, Dumlupınar Mh. D-100 Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey, 34720.
• Contact Email: [email protected]

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model is to provide a standardized psychometric instrument capable of explaining how individual moral orientation translates into actionable ecological consumption patterns, and how this dynamic is transformed, dampened, or accentuated by social status considerations. In the contemporary global economy, pro-environmental behavior has emerged as an ethical imperative. However, an enduring gap exists between consumers’ self-reported moral values and their actual marketplace actions—frequently described in marketing and ecological psychology literature as the “green attitude-behavior gap” or “ethical consumption paradox.”

This measurement model addresses that paradox by delineating sustainable consumption into two distinct behavioral dimensions: sustainable purchasing (active acquisition of green and reduced-packaging products) and sustainable curtailment (conservative usage and conservation of finite resources such as water and electricity). It examines how these behaviors stem from both private internalizations and public symbolizations of moral identity, while accounting for the individual’s baseline collectivist mindset. Crucially, the model integrates status consumption as a psychological moderator, recognizing that modern consumer choices are rarely governed by ethical altruism alone; they are frequently intertwined with conspicuous consumption, prestige signaling, and self-enhancement goals.

From an applied research and managerial perspective, this instrument serves multiple purposes:

• Theoretical Exploration: It allows researchers in behavioral economics and environmental psychology to isolate whether consumers adopt green behaviors out of intrinsic moral duty versus extrinsic status-seeking incentives.
• Public Policy and Social Marketing: Policymakers and non-governmental organizations can administer the scale to profile demographic cohorts, distinguishing between audiences responsive to community-oriented moral messaging versus those influenced by prestige or social recognition.
• Market Segmentation and Commercial Strategy: Sustainable brand managers can identify target consumer segments willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly products that confer visible social standing versus consumers who prefer private curtailment actions.

Psychological Construct

The measurement model operationalizes six distinct psychological and behavioral constructs, reflecting an integrated cognitive-behavioral architecture:

1. Collectivist Mindset

Grounded in cross-cultural psychology, the collectivist mindset reflects an individual’s tendency to subordinate personal interests to collective well-being, emphasize group interdependence, and prioritize harmonious social cohesion. In this measurement model, collectivism serves as an ideological foundation that reinforces communal responsibility, encouraging prosocial conduct and readiness to share resources or accept personal trade-offs for group welfare.

2. Moral Identity Internalization

Drawing on the social-cognitive formulation of moral identity, internalization measures the degree to which moral traits (such as being honest, compassionate, caring, and fair) are deeply embedded within the core of an individual’s private self-concept. High internalization means that moral integrity is an essential component of personal identity, driving moral decisions through intrinsic self-evaluative mechanisms independent of external audience observation.

3. Moral Identity Symbolization

In contrast to internalization, symbolization captures the public, expressive dimension of moral selfhood. It reflects the degree to which an individual expresses moral traits outward through explicit social cues, lifestyle habits, leisure activities, reading materials, and organizational participation. Symbolization serves as an instrument of social communication, conveying moral commitment to external peers.

4. Sustainable Consumption Buying

This subscale assesses overt market transactions characterized by the deliberate purchase of environmentally benign goods. It captures active pro-environmental purchasing decisions, including buying certified organic goods, selecting items with eco-friendly certifications, and prioritizing products designed with reduced packaging to minimize landfill impact.

5. Sustainable Consumption Curtailment

While buying behaviors focus on market acquisition, curtailment behaviors measure conservation-oriented lifestyle practices focused on voluntary reduction of resource use. It encompasses daily routine actions such as turning off idle lighting, shutting off running faucets during tooth-brushing, and shortening personal shower times to preserve domestic water resources.

6. Status Consumption

Defined as the motivational process by which consumers seek to enhance their social standing through the visible acquisition and consumption of products that convey prestige, status, or exclusivity. This construct assesses willingness to pay premium prices, attraction to high-status novelties, and valuation of “snob appeal,” serving as a key psychological force in modern market environments.

Theoretical Framework

The Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model is anchored in three interconnected psychological frameworks: Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Identity, Costly Signaling and Conspicuous Consumption Theory, and Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory.

Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Identity

According to social cognitive theory, the moral self is organized as a dynamic mental schema consisting of moral beliefs, values, and behavioral routines. This cognitive network can vary in accessibility. Reed, Aquino, and Levy posited that moral identity possesses two dimensions: internalization (the self-importance of moral traits to the private self) and symbolization (the outward projection of moral traits to social audiences). When moral identity is cognitively activated, it serves as a self-regulatory mechanism directing individuals toward prosocial actions, including ecological protection.

Costly Signaling and Conspicuous Conservation

Originating from evolutionary biology and economic sociology, costly signaling theory suggests that individuals engage in resource-intensive, altruistic behaviors to signal desirable unobservable traits—such as wealth, altruism, and social commitment—to potential allies and peers. Integrating this with Thorstein Veblen’s classic formulation of conspicuous consumption, modern scholars have identified “conspicuous conservation.” Here, consumers acquire green products (often at a price premium) not merely from private ethical concern, but to visibly project pro-social status and prestige. The inclusion of status consumption provides a theoretical lens to examine whether prestige-seeking motives align with or undermine moral identity.

Value-Belief-Norm Theory and Collectivism

The model also draws on the Value-Belief-Norm framework, which establishes that pro-environmental actions are rooted in broader cultural orientations. A collectivist orientation fosters an ecocentric worldview by prioritizing mutual social survival over individual consumption utility. Within this framework, collectivist values serve as distal cognitive antecedents that heighten moral sensitivity, subsequently activating personal ethical norms and sustainable behaviors.

Validity

The validity of the measurement model was established through construct, convergent, and discriminant validation procedures using empirical data collected from an academic sample in Turkey.

Construct and Convergent Validity

Construct validity was evaluated by assessing whether empirical observations aligned with latent structural dimensions. Following standard structural equation modeling procedures, convergent validity was assessed via factor loadings and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) criterion formulated by Fornell and Larcker (1981). All 19 items exhibited strong, statistically significant standardized loadings onto their designated latent constructs. The AVE values for each of the six latent constructs exceeded the recommended minimum cutoff of 0.50, demonstrating that each latent construct accounted for more than half of the variance observed across its respective indicator items.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity was established using the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT), recognized as a rigorous criterion for detecting empirical overlap between latent variables. As recommended by Kline (2023), all pairwise HTMT values between constructs fell well below the conservative ceiling threshold of 0.85. This confirmed that despite conceptual connections—such as between Moral Identity Internalization and Moral Identity Symbolization, or Sustainable Buying and Sustainable Curtailment—each construct maintained adequate empirical distinctiveness.

Common Method Variance Assessment

Because data were collected via self-report surveys administered in a single wave, common method bias was evaluated. Following Podsakoff and Organ (1986), Harman’s single-factor test was conducted. The unrotated principal factor accounted for 39.7% of the total explained variance, safely beneath the critical 50% threshold, indicating that common method bias did not compromise the validity of the structural model.

Reliability

The reliability of the measurement model was assessed using item-total correlation analysis and composite reliability across all six operational subscales.

Item Screening and Item-Total Correlation

During scale adaptation and refinement, an item purification process was applied to the initial item pool. Items exhibiting an item-total correlation coefficient below the standard 0.30 threshold were eliminated. This purification step removed non-performing items, retaining only internally consistent indicators across each subscale.

Composite Reliability

To avoid the known limitations of Cronbach’s alpha regarding assumptions of tau-equivalence, internal consistency was evaluated via Composite Reliability (CR). In line with Hair et al. (2021), a minimum benchmark of 0.70 was applied. All six constructs demonstrated Composite Reliability coefficients exceeding 0.70, indicating solid internal consistency and low random measurement error across the 19 items.

Factor Analysis

The underlying dimensionality and empirical structure of the model were evaluated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) within a structural equation modeling environment.

Model Fit Assessment

The six-factor measurement model was evaluated against empirical covariance structures. Multiple absolute, incremental, and parsimonious goodness-of-fit indices were examined against standard thresholds established by Hu and Bentler (1999) and Baumgartner and Homburg (1996):

• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.94 (exceeding the standard ≥ 0.90 threshold for acceptable model fit)
• Incremental Fit Index (IFI): 0.94 (exceeding the standard ≥ 0.90 threshold)
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): 0.93 (exceeding the standard ≥ 0.90 threshold)
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): 0.08 (within the acceptable upper limit of ≤ 0.08, with p < 0.001)

The CFA results confirmed that specifying six distinct, correlated latent factors provides a satisfactory representation of the empirical data, outperforming alternative single-factor or higher-order collapsed models.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

The Status Consumption and Moral Identity–Measurement Model is a multi-dimensional, self-administered survey instrument. Below are its primary structural and operational specifications:

• Test Type: Original Instrument / Adapted Multi-construct Measurement Model
• Instrument Type: Psychometric Self-Report Questionnaire
• Target Population: Human adults (18 years and older), validated across university cohorts in Turkey
• Administration Method: Electronic (online survey platforms) or pen-and-paper
• Total Item Count: 19 items
• Factor Structure: 6 latent subscales
  • Collectivist Mindset (3 items)
  • Moral Identity Internalization (3 items)
  • Moral Identity Symbolization (3 items)
  • Sustainable Consumption Buying (3 items)
  • Sustainable Consumption Curtailment (3 items)
  • Status Consumption (4 items)
• Response Scale: Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree).
• Scoring Protocol: Construct scores are computed by calculating the arithmetic mean of the items within each subscale. Higher mean values indicate greater endorsement of the measured construct. There are no reverse-coded items in the purified 19-item set.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Test Year: 2025
• Commercial Use: Prohibited without explicit publisher authorization
• Usage Fee: Free for academic, scientific, and non-commercial educational research purposes
• Permissions Information: Researchers wishing to reproduce, modify, or translate the scale for published commercial applications should contact Taylor & Francis or the corresponding author, Dr. Mertcan Taşcıoğlu (Department of Management, Istanbul Medeniyet University, [email protected]).

References

• Baumgartner, H., & Homburg, C. (1996). Applications of structural equation modeling in marketing and consumer research: A review. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 13(2), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-8116(95)00038-0
• Dermody, J., Hanmer-Lloyd, S., Koenig-Lewis, N., & Zhao, A. L. (2018). The potential of social marketing to enact sustainable consumption in emerging markets: A focus on young consumers in China. Journal of Marketing Management, 34(7–8), 534–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2018.1484705
• Eastman, J. K., Goldsmith, R. E., & Flynn, L. R. (1999). Status consumption in consumer behavior: Scale development and validation. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 7(3), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.1999.11501839
• Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
• Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2021). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
• Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
• Kline, R. B. (2023). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling (5th ed.). Guilford Press.
• Podsakoff, P. M., & Organ, D. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4), 531–544. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920638601200408
• Reed, A., Aquino, K., & Levy, E. (2007). Moral identity and judgments of charitable behaviors. Journal of Marketing, 71(1), 178–193. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.71.1.178
• Taşcıoğlu, M. (2025). Status consumption effect on moral identity – Sustainable consumption relationship: Bittersweet, or bitter-only? Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 37(1), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2024.2355221
• Yen, C. H., Wang, W. C., & Yang, C. N. (2017). Determinants of customer value co-creation behaviors in hotel services: The role of service contact and collectivistic culture. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 65, 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.06.011

Items of the Scale