Reparative Consumption: The Role of Racial Identity and White Guilt in Consumer Preferences

In light of recent social and political movements advocating for racial equity and calls for more research on interracial marketplace interactions, this research explores the role racial identity plays in the consumption domain. Specifically, we investigate the marketplace consequences of U.S.-based White consumers’ feelings about their own racial identity by measuring and manipulating white guilt, defined as the sense of guilt and remorse experienced by White consumers who hold their racial ingroup responsible for historical and ongoing racial injustices and perceive that Whites, as a racial group, benefit from unearned privileges. Consistent with the reparation-oriented action profile of guilt, six studies (all pre-registered, two with incentive-compatible designs) show that white guilt motivates reparative behaviors toward Black-owned businesses in various service contexts: Consumers with high white guilt express greater willingness to patronize and promote a business when it is Black-owned (vs. White-owned, family-owned, or when there is no information on ownership) and feel more moral for doing so, whereas this effect is non-existent, or sometimes reversed, for those low in white guilt. Our findings reveal the complex dynamics of race, identity, and intergroup relations in the marketplace, and demonstrate a contemporary exception to ingroup favoritism among some White consumers.