| Abstract |
Cruelty-free practices involve avoidance of animal harm during production. While adopting cruelty-free practices by firms is important for sustainability, overcoming consumer indifference towards cruelty-free products is challenging. Through six studies, we show that consumer speciesism (devaluation of other species) moderates the effect of cruelty-free practices on product evaluation. Cruelty-free practices increase purchase intention among low speciesism but not among high speciesism consumers, mediated by perceived brand moral agency. The study examines how cruelty-free brands can create a win-win strategy that benefits the firm and the environment by using anthropomorphized animals in brand communications to attenuate the unfavorable effect of speciesism. |