Do You Reap What You Sow? The Effect of Cyberostracism on Moral Impurity

Abstract

Two experiments tested whether cyberostracism increases people’s perceived moral impurity and their tendency to purchase cleansing products. In both experiments, participants were first either ostracized or included in a web-based social interaction. Next, they completed self-report measures to assess their perceived moral impurity and tendency to purchase cleansing products. The results showed that participants who were ostracized reported a higher level of moral impurity and a higher tendency to purchase cleansing products. These findings advance our current understanding on the effect of online social interaction on people’s moral self-perception.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council’s Early Career Scheme [28603715] and the Education University of Hong Kong’s Internal Research Grant [RG 97/2016-2017R].