Fairtrade practices and consumer decision-making: the interplay of anticipatory guilt arousal, ad credibility and perceived manipulation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of anticipatory guilt arousal on consumer attitudes and behaviour towards Fairtrade-certified products. Specifically, it examines whether self-efficacy moderates the relationship between consumers’ anticipatory guilt arousal and their willingness to pay more. It also explores whether attitudes towards the advertisement and inferences of manipulative intent mediate the relationship between ad credibility and anticipatory guilt arousal for Fairtrade-certified products. Design/methodology/approach The study used a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design, using a consumer panel consisting of 717 participants exposed to different stimulus conditions. The collected data was further analysed using structural equation modelling in AMOS 24 to estimate the relationships within the structural model. Findings The study revealed a positive relationship between anticipatory guilt arousal and willingness to pay more for Fairtrade-certified chocolate. Inferences of manipulative intent were found to have a negative relationship with attitudes towards the advertisement and ad credibility in both the [Control] and [Statement] conditions. In addition, inferences of manipulative intent had a negative relationship with anticipatory guilt arousal. Self-efficacy was found to positively moderate the relationship between anticipatory guilt arousal and willingness to pay more, specifically in the [Statement] condition. Practical implications The insights gained from this study contribute to a better understanding of guilt appeals. The distinctions between systematic and heuristic persuasion cues in the context of marketing strategies can have implications for practitioners, academics and policymakers. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to provide insights into the development and distinctions between consumer responses to heuristic and systematic persuasion cues, as well as their attitudes towards Fairtrade-certified products.