Janet Marta

A cross‐cultural study of consumer perceptions about marketing ethics

Given the ever‐increasing globalization of economies, growing numbers of marketing firms are expecting more of their profits to be derived from international sales. Global competition is ferocious; thus, developing long‐term partner relationships often becomes a significant competitive advantage. Corporate ethics are of pivotal importance in global business, though globalization also complicates ethical questions, because an individual’s culture affects his/her ethical decision making. Failures to account for the effects of differences in consumers’ culturally‐based ethical values will hinder a marketer’s efforts to expand internationally. Compares consumers from Malaysia and the USA in terms of their perceptions of marketing ethics situations, their attitudes toward business and salespeople, and their personal moral philosophies. The survey results reveal some significant differences between the consumers from these two countries.

Some important factors underlying ethical decisions of Middle‐Eastern marketers

This study analyzes the marketing ethics decision‐making process of Middle‐Eastern marketers. In particular, it examines the relative influences of ethical perceptions, perceived importance of ethics, and age on ethical intentions of marketers in the Middle East. A self‐administered questionnaire was used as the data collection technique for this study. Perception of ethical problem and ethical intention were operationalized by means of two marketing ethics scenarios. Age of respondents was measured directly and perceived importance of ethics was measured by a scale that has been used a number of times in the literature. Convenience samples of marketers from three Middle‐Eastern countries, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were used in this study. The survey results generally indicate that a perceived ethical problem is a positive factor of a Middle‐Eastern marketers ethical intention, as hypothesized. The results also support the hypothesis regarding the influence of perceived importance of ethics, that Middle‐Eastern marketers who perceive ethics to be important are more likely to have an ethical intention than Middle‐Eastern marketers who do not perceive ethics to be important. The research hypothesis regarding the influence of age, however, is not supported. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Personal Characteristics Underlying Ethical Decisions in Marketing Situations: A Survey of Small Business Managers*

This study analyzes the marketing ethics decision‐making process of small business managers. In particular, it examines the relative influences of ethical perceptions, personal moral philosophies, and gender on ethical intentions of small business managers. The sample of this study consists of professional members of the American Marketing Association working in companies with 500 employees or fewer. The results reveal that perceived ethical problem is a positive factor of a small business managers ethical intention. The results generally support our hypothesis that female managers tend to be more ethical in their intention than their male counterparts. However, the results indicate that neither dimension of personal moral philosophy—idealism and relativism—is a significant predictor of a managers ethical intention.

Is Cross-Cultural Similarity an Indicator of Similar Marketing Ethics?

This study compares Australian marketers with those in the United States along lines that are particular to the study of ethics. The test measured two different moral philosophies, idealism and relativism, and compared perceptions of ethical problems, ethical intentions, and corporate ethical values. According to Hofstedes cultural typologies, there should be little difference between American and Australian marketers, but the study did find significant differences. Australians tended to be more idealistic and more relativistic than Americans and the other results were mixed, making it difficult to generalize about the effects of moral philosophies on the components of ethical decision-making measured here. This is an important finding; as firms become increasingly more globalized, marketers will more often be involved in cross-cultural ethical dilemmas and it seems natural to assume that similar cultures will have similar ethical orientations. That assumption may well prove erroneous.

A Comparison of Ethical Perceptions and Moral Philosophies of American and Egyptian Business Students

This study compares business students fromEgypt and the United States in terms of theirperceptions of ethical problems, personal moralphilosophies (idealism, relativism), and theirperceptions about the importance of ethics. Aself-administered questionnaire was used tocollect data, in the classroom setting. Theresults reveal significant differences betweenthe business students from the two countries,which may be suggestive for variouscross-cultural business interactions. Theauthors derive some implications for businessethics instruction.

Comparing Thai and US businesspeople

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine differences in the ethical decision‐making processes of Thai and American businesspeople, considering perceived moral intensity, corporate ethical values (CEV), and perceived importance of ethics.Design/methodology/approach – Survey respondents were professional marketers in Thailand (n=605) and US (n=453). Results were analyzed using MANOVA and ANOVA. Scales have been used previously in the literature, so we report reliability.Findings – American managers were more likely to perceive the unethical marketing behaviors to be more serious. American organizations were found to have higher CEV than Thai organizations. The results revealed no differences between the two groups of businesspeople, however, on their perceptions about the importance of ethics.Research limitations/implications – Limitations inherent in this research include the initial development of the development of the measurements in the US and some notable demographic differences between the s...

Comparing Marketing Students with Practitioners on Some Key Variables of Ethical Decisions

This study compares marketing students from two major U.S. universities with a sample of U.S. practitioner members of the American Marketing Association on their personal moral philosophies (idealism and relativism), perceived importance of ethics, perceived moral intensity, and ethical intention. As hypothesized, the results reveal that marketing students are more relativistic, less likely to perceive the intensity of moral issues, and less likely to have an ethical intention than practitioners. However, the results reveal that marketing students are more idealistic than practitioners. The results reveal no significant differences between marketing students and practitioners regarding their perceived importance of ethics.

Moral Philosophies, Ethical Perceptions and Marketing Education: A Multi-Country Analysis

This study compares business students from India, New Zealand and the United States regarding their perceptions of the ethical problems, perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility and their personal moral philosophies. Using three marketing ethics scenarios, the results of the study show that business students from the U.S. and New Zealand tend to perceive ethical problems to be more serious than do their Indian counterparts. There were mixed results on personal moral philosophies, but measurement of perceptions about how important ethics and social responsibility are in achieving organizational effectiveness found significant differences between all three groups. We discuss the implications of these findings for international marketing and business ethics education.