Price Partitioning of Socio-Moral Surcharges.

This article examines how the presentation format of mandatory socio-moral surcharges—extra charges levied to support social or moral causes such as carbon-offset, living-wage, fair-trade, and sustainability initiatives—affects consumer reactions. It finds that partitioned pricing, where these surcharges are listed separately from the product price, often leads consumers to perceive that firms are avoiding their responsibility for the cause by passing costs onto customers, thereby reducing intrinsic corporate social responsibility (CSR) attributions and lowering purchase intentions. In contrast, all-inclusive pricing, which incorporates the surcharge into the total product price, tends to elicit more favorable consumer responses. The research further identifies strategies to mitigate negative reactions to partitioned surcharges, including signaling that funds go to external parties, demonstrating firm donations to the cause, and framing surcharges as consumer benefits. These findings have implications for managers and policymakers in effectively incorporating socio-moral surcharges without provoking consumer backlash.