The Role of Moral Emotions in Innovation Research Articles uri icon

publication date

  • January 2023

start page

  • 9

end page

  • 50

volume

  • 26

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2288-0488

abstract

  • This paper aims to explore consumers" process of resisting and accepting innovations that emerge during the era in which we live, and to show the functions of moral emotions in business stakeholder communities. To do so, we first explore the relationship between moral emotions and capitalism, how moral emotions influence the relationship between companies and consumers. As numerous innovations are emerging and changing the form of capitalism, various crises in communities are simultaneously taking place in our society. We show how individuals" thoughts of other people and the community beget moral emotions and how the resulting moral behaviors enrich formation, maintenance, and growth of healthy communities. Importantly, we focus on the role of moral emotions in resistance to and acceptance of innovations. Such consideration is important especially as Christians who are called to take care of our neighbors and live in supportive communities. Thus, we explore categories of moral emotions and their connections with moral behaviors, as well as the influence of moral emotions on innovation resistance and acceptance. By doing so, we explore how consumers" perceptions of innovation influence subsequent responses in their emotions and behaviors. The core distinguishing contribution of the current paper is that it focuses on moral emotions that occur throughout social interactions in business stakeholder communities. We divide human emotions into basic emotions and moral emotions, and structure the moral emotions literature into the following four categories: self-conscious emotion, other-praising emotion, other-blaming emotion, and otherempathetic emotion. In addition, we provide business cases at the intersection of innovation and moral emotions. This paper is the first to examine the resistance to and acceptance of innovations centered on moral emotions, introducing fruitful avenues for future research.

subjects

  • Business
  • Economics

keywords

  • moral emotions; capitalism; innovations; resistance and acceptance; community