A cross‐cultural examination of the general theory of marketing ethics: does it apply to the next generation of managers?

Abstract

This research confirms the empirical test of Hunt and Vitell's (1986) General Theory of Marketing Ethics by Mayo and Marks (1990) across four cultures. Using path analysis, the core relationships of the general theory of marketing ethics, as originally tested by Mayo and Marks (1990) were successfully replicated using over 1500 students from seven universities in the US, Canada, Netherlands, and Australia. "Tomorrow's managers" appear to use a more deontological approach to making ethical judgments about personal selling than the Mayo and Mark's sample of marketing research managers. However, the major premise of the theory that both deontological and teleological philosophies jointly influence ethical judgments was confirmed across all four countries. The original research was extended by confirming the positive relationship between the probability of consequences and the desirability of consequences. The use of social values as deontological norms also appears promising. Although the model was originally intended to explain management ethical decision-making, our study has shown that it may be generalizable to how individuals make ethical decisions in life. APJML 45 __________________________________________________________________________ Cross-Cultural examination of the General Theory of Marketing Ethics

The General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Revision and Three Questions

“…[and] the relationship between judgments and intentions to adopt an ethical alternative is attenuated when its implementation does not result in a preferred consequence" (p. 163). Donoho et al (1999) replicated Mayo and Marks's (1990) research across four different national populations, finding evidence consistent with Mayo and Marks's original results.…”

How Ethical Behavior of Firms is Influenced by the Legal and Political Environments: A Bayesian Causal Map Analysis Based on Stages of Development

“…Hunt and Vasquez-Parraga (1993) study found gender as a personal characteristic that shapes managers' ethical decisions. Burns and Kiecker (1995), Donoho et al (1999), Mayo and Marks (1990), Menguc (1998), andVitell et al (2001) studied the impact of deontological versus teleological orientations of the decision maker. Bommer et al (1987) proposed a normative ethical decision model and argued that individual attributes of the decision maker, the work environment, professional environment, personal environment, social environment, and government/legal environment affect ethical/unethical behavior.…”

Brand ethics and social media engagement

“…Ethical issues in social media embraces identity, privacy, surveillance, friending, and user exploitation (Donoho et al, 2001) on the other hand consumer behaviour have also attracted considerable attention in the last few decades (Al-Khatib et al, 1997;Singhapakdi et al, 1999;Wood, 2017). However, there are limited empirical studies focusing on ethical issues associated with social media engagement and their effects on consumer preferences.…”