Kumar C. Rallapalli

The Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility on Organizational Effectiveness: A Survey of Marketers

A necessary but insufficient condition for marketers to act ethically and be socially responsible is that they must perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important. However, little is known about marketers’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility components of business decisions. The objectives of this study are (1)to assess the marketing practitioners’ perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness, and (2) to analyze the relative influences of selected personal characteristics and organizational factors underlying a marketer’s perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results from a mail survey of American Marketing Association members indicate that the marketers generally believe that ethics and social responsibility are important components of organizational effectiveness. The results partly indicate that there is a positive relationship between a marketer’s corporate ethical values and his or her perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility. The results also indicate that the marketers’ perceptions regarding ethics and social responsibility can be explained by idealism and relativism.

Marketing norms: The influence of personal moral philosophies and organizational ethical culture

This study develops a scale, using the American Marketing Association’s code of ethics, to measure the marketing-related norms of marketing practitioners. The scale has five dimensions: 1) price and distribution, 2) information and contracts, 3) product and promotion, 4) obligation and disclosure, and 5) general honesty and integrity. The relative influence of personal moral philosophies and organizational ethical climate on the norms of marketers was also examined in this study.

The Influence of Norms on Ethical Judgments and Intentions: An Empirical Study of Marketing Professionals

Abstract This study examined the influence of marketers’ deontological norms on their ethical judgments and intentions. A conceptual model that consisted of marketers’ norms, teleological evaluations, ethical judgments, and intentions was presented. Hypotheses concerning the relationships among these variables were developed and tested. Data were collected from 249 marketing professionals. Results of path analysis showed that marketers’ ethical judgments and intentions were influenced jointly by their deontological norms and teleological evaluations. Additionally, the moderating effects of selected situational factors were examined. Results showed that organizational ethical environment and professional ethical environment were found to affect the decision-making process of marketers; however, these effects appear to be dependent on the type of ethical dilemma involved.

Personal and Professional Values Underlying Ethical Decisions: A Comparison of American and Thai Marketers

Cultural differences in moral judgements are generally recognized by marketing ethicists. Attempts to investigate the issue of cross‐cultural ethical differences by comparing US marketers and Thai marketers with respect to their professional and personal values. A self‐administered questionnaire was used as the data collection technique. Results indicate that US marketers are significantly different from Thai marketers based on the combination of professional and personal values.

A Paradigm for Development and Promulgation of a Global Code of Marketing Ethics

This paper provides a paradigm for evaluating the factors that affect the development of a global code of ethics in marketing. Based on a review of the literature pertaining to global codes of ethics, we examined the potential for the development and acceptance of a universal code of ethics in the international marketing arena. Towards that end, we suggest that any global code of ethics in marketing should consider two levels – normative guidelines and specific behaviors. A discussion detailing the factors that can impede the development of such a two-tiered code is included as well. Those factors being moral reasoning, organizational ethical climate, level of economic development and cultural dimensions. Finally, the feasibility and the possible outcomes of a global code of ethics in marketing is examined.

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.

Personal and professional values underlying ethical decisions

Cultural differences in moral judgements are generally recognized by marketing ethicists. Attempts to investigate the issue of cross‐cultural ethical differences by comparing US marketers and Thai marketers with respect to their professional and personal values. A self‐administered questionnaire was used as the data collection technique. Results indicate that US marketers are significantly different from Thai marketers based on the combination of professional and personal values.

Marketing Strategies For Asian-Americans: Guidelines Based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

United States is a multicultural society. This provides both opportunities and challenges to the marketers. For most of the products the target market comprises of people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds (e.g. Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American). While much research has examined the consumer behavior of Caucasians, African-Americans and Hispanics and its implications for marketers, very few studies have examined the impact of cultural differences of Asian-Americans on marketing strategies.

Marketing Ethics and Moral Philosophies: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Business Students from United States and New Zealand

This study compares business students from the United States and New Zealand regarding their perceptions of the ethical problems, perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility and their personal moral philosophies. Using four marketing ethics scenarios, the results of the study show that, in case of three scenarios, there are no significant differences between American business students and business students from New Zealand. Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) was used to measure idealism and relativism, the two basic dimensions of personal moral philosophies of the two groups.

International Marketing Ethics: Challenges in Developing Global Code of Ethics

The dramatic advances in technology, decreased restrictions on transportation and financial flows has facilitated the rapid growth of international business in the last decade. While global marketing poses several challenges in designing and developing marketing strategies, it has also created new challenges in dealing with ethical/unethical issues. Several studies examined the pervasiveness of unethical marketing practices in different cultures (Armstrong 1992; Dubinsky et al. 1991) and concluded that the pervasiveness of unethical behavior in international marketing arena creates an urgent need for a common global code of conduct. The ethical/unethical issues have brought the role of multinational corporations to the forefront. Multinational corporations are faced with a choice between designing a code of conduct uniform across all the subsidiaries in different nations or develop individual code suited for each country. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the two choices - global code of ethics and individualized code of ethics. We will examine the pertinent literature in discussing the challenges in developing code of ethics in an international marketing arena.