Sam Fullerton

Consumer ethics: An assessment of individual behavior in the market place

A national sample of 362 respondents assessed the ethical predisposition of the American marketplace by calculating a consumer ethics index. The results indicate that the population is quite intolerant of perceived ethical abuses. The situations where consumers are ambivalent tend to be those where the seller suffers little or no economic harm from the consumers action. Younger, more educated, and higher income consumers appear more accepting of these transgressions. The results provided the basis for developing a four-group taxonomy of consumers which retailers should find insightful in assessing potential consumer actions in a variety of situations.

Consumer transgressions in the marketplace: Consumers' perspectives

A national sample of 532 consumers was assessed on 15 different scenarios that reflect questionable behaviors by consumers. The results indicate that consumers are ethically predisposed as they generally express little tolerance for behavioral transgressions on the part of the customer. Factor analysis identified two latent dimensions for the scenarios: direct economic consequences and indirect economic consequences. Respondents expressed greater intolerance of those actions that comprise the indirect economic consequences factor. One-way analysis of variance identified several instances where age, gender, education, and income were related to specific responses.

The international search for ethics norms: which consumer behaviors do consumers consider (un)acceptable?

Purpose – Businesses cannot rely on their customers to always do the right thing. To help researchers and service providers better understand the dark (and light) side of customer behavior, this study aims to aggregate and investigate perceptions of consumer ethics from young consumers on five continents. The study seeks to present a profile of consumer behavioral norms, how ethical inclinations have evolved over time, and country differences.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from ten countries across five continents between 1997 and 2007. A self‐administered questionnaire containing 14 consumer scenarios asked respondents to rate acceptability of questionable consumer actions.Findings – Overall, consumers found four of the 14 questionable consumer actions acceptable. Illegal activities were mostly viewed as unethical, while some legal actions that were against company policy were viewed less harshly. Differences across continents emerged, with Europeans being the least critical, while Asi...

From Exchanges to Relationships: A Reconceptualization of the Marketing Paradigm

This article explores three key questions regarding the “new-old.” concept of relationship marketing. The question of “what.” is answered by recognizing a firm’s need to keep rather than simply acquire customers through mutually beneficial, interactive networks. The question “why.” focuses on the bottom line and, again, the mutually beneficial character of relationships. The question of “how.” identifies three key components for implementation: selective acquisition of customers, designing value propositions, and individualized or customized attention. Thus, the focus should not be on the exchange process, rather it must be on developing and perpetuating relationships. As a consequence, marketing practitioners and theorists must reevaluate the strategies used in the attempt to secure a successful presence in the marketplace.

A cross‐cultural examination of attitudes towards aberrant consumer behaviour in the marketplace: some preliminary results from the USA, New Zealand and Singapore

Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphasis on global business and ethics. Combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in New Zealand and Singapore to their US counterparts. A sample of 373 students indicated that the students in the three countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of consumers. The overall predisposition of the three groups as measured by the grand mean of the responses was virtually identical. However, of the 14 scenarios evaluated, four exhibited significant differences between the three groups. In two of these four, students from New Zealand expressed greater tolerance for questionable consumer action while US students expressed greater concern in regard to the other two. Singapore’s situation was somewhat in the middle. The results indicate that a global measure of ethical predisposition may be misleading and that ethical attitudes may be situational. Marketers must consider the characteristics of each country when assessing risk.

Attitudes Toward Consumer and Business Ethics Among Canadian and New Zealand Business Students: An Assessment of 28 Scenarios

Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphases on global business and ethics. This paper combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in New Zealand with their Canadian counterparts. A sample of 360 students indicated that students in both countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of both business and consumers. Of the 28 scenarios evaluated, five exhibited significant differences between the two groups. In four cases, students from New Zealand expressed less tolerance for the questionable business practices, and in the other one the situation was reversed. Despite the relative congruence of attitudes exhibited by the students of the two countries, the fact that differences do exist is testimony to the increased risk inherent to international business.

Patient Proactivity: Behaviors, Attitudes, and Its Relationship With Satisfaction With the American Health Care Delivery System

A sample of 1,031 U.S. adult residents provided information regarding actions that fall within the realm of patient proactivity, that is to say efforts that are overtly designed to maintain or regain ones health. An assessment of consumers revealed that they engage in, or at least support, behaviors that would be characterized as proactive. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between some elements of patient proactivity and the level of satisfaction with the American health care system. The relationships are modest, but they offer managerial insight that will benefit those responsible for both delivering and marketing health care.

An Attitudinal Analysis of Different Groups of Managers towards Business Ethics in South Africa

Abstract This study determines the ethical profiles and dispositions of three groups of managers in South Africa. These groups consisted of (1) Managers from a specific company active in the agricultural sector in South Africa; (2) A collection of managersfrom diverse industries in South Africa; and (3) A group consisting of potential managers. The objectives are tomeasure the ethical views of the groups, to identify ethical discrepancies that existbetween the different respondent groups, and to determine the statistical significance of those differences. Individual- as well as company ethical behaviour are tested amongst of 754 participating respondents regarding individual and ethical ethics while the groups do not differsignificantly from each other on individual ethical behaviour. However, regarding company ethics, the groups differ more in their views of which actions are acceptable and which are not.

Consumer perspectives on the ethics of an array of technology-based marketing strategies: An exploratory study

Purpose Technology-based initiatives are now being routinely incorporated within most companies’ marketing strategies. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer perspectives on the ethics of these initiatives. It also seeks to identify underlying dimensions within the technology-based strategic environment with the intent of generating advances for both academicians and practitioners alike. Design/methodology/approach The enquiry is based on a survey featuring a cross-section of 20 technology-based initiatives. A sample of 967 adult residents of the USA provided their views of the extent to which each initiative/scenario conformed to their perception of society’s norms regarding ethical acceptability. Findings In total, 13 of the 20 initiatives were deemed unacceptable with the greatest disdain exhibited for a company posting bogus online reviews. Most acceptable were self-service checkouts. Three sub-dimensions of the ethicality construct as it relates to technology-based marketing initiatives were identified and validated as measurement scales for use in future research: involvement, communication, and privacy. Research limitations/implications The generalization of findings may be limited because younger and older segments of the population were slightly under- and over-represented, respectively. Practical implications Marketers should recognize that consumers are much more accepting of any initiative from which they will derive some benefit. They should also recognize that within this arena, ethical acceptability is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, necessitating that they strategize accordingly. Originality/value Although previous research has garnered insights with respect to a particular technology-based marketing initiative, none have explored the relativities of consumer perceived ethicality across an array of different initiatives or examined any latent sub-dimensions of the construct in this arena. This study addresses these deficiencies.

The Effects of the Sequencing of Principal Components and Multiple Discriminant Analyses: An Exploratory Investigation

This project examined the efficiencies realized by the sequential use of principal components analysis and multiple discriminant analysis. The reported research builds upon 98 AIO statements collected from a sample of 606 respondents. The efficiencies gained fell into two catagories: statistical and operational.