Self-licensing in online buying-shopping: The roles of conflict, resistance, and guilt

Individuals often rationalize tempting behaviors through self-licensing, justifying indulgence based on perceived deservingness or future compensation. This process is particularly prevalent in hedonic consumption behaviors like buying-shopping, where financial implications intensify self-regulatory conflicts.

The present project examines three phenomena alongside self-regulatory conflict - conflict with other goals or activities, resistance against desire, and anticipated guilt - and how each uniquely interacts with self-licensing processes. When linked to goal-conflict, self-licensing may represent an intentional cognitive strategy to resolve goal discrepancies by actively deprioritizing competing long-term aims. When associated with resistance, self-licensing may act as a release mechanism, temporarily suspending inhibitory control and allowing suppressed desires to surface. In contrast, when tied to guilt, self-licensing may serve as an emotion-regulation strategy, mitigating anticipated shame or self-reproach following indulgence.

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