Consumer ethical beliefs and personality traits: An exploratory analysis

The present study examines the relationships between consumers' ethical beliefs and personality traits. Based on a survey of 295 undergraduate business students, the authors found that individuals with high needs for autonomy, innovation, and aggression, as well as individuals with a high propensity for taking risks tend to have “less ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. Individuals with a high need for social desirability and individuals with a strong problem solving coping style tend to have “more ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. The needs for achievement, affiliation, complexity and an emotion solving coping style were not significantly correlated with consumer ethical beliefs.     

Personal values and business decisions: An exploratory investigation

Interest in subjective values and decision responses are investigated empirically, including statistically testing the predictive relationships between subjective values, other independent variables such as level and area of executive responsibility, and decision responses. John H. Barnett is Associate Professor at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, U.S.A. He was previously a Management Consultant (Cresap, McCormick & Paget) and a Volunteer Executive (Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Papua New guinea, Philippines). He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Doctor of Divinity. His most important publications are: A Business Model of Enlightenment, Journal of Business Ethics 4 (1985), Controversy and Change in Cultural concepts, (Sierra Madre Seminary), and Down the Rose Path: A Businessman's Search for Enlightenment, in press. Marvin J. Karson is Professor of Business Statistics and James R. Carter Professor of Management at the University of New Hampshire. He was formerly Professor of Statistics at the University of Alabama. His work has been published in a number of professional journals. One of his most recent publications is: Karson, M. J. and Cheng, D. C., Estimation of Multi-Period Expected Rates of Return When Investment Relatives are Lognormally Distributed, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 3, No. 2 (1985), 140–148. He is also the author of Multivariate Statistical Methods (Iowa State University Press, 1982).     

Exploring how and when ethical conflict impairs employee organizational commitment: A stress perspective investigation

Previous studies demonstrate the detrimental effect of ethical conflict (i.e., incompatibility between ethical values of employees and organizations) on employee organizational commitment. However, few studies have assessed the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions that may contribute to a deeper understanding of how and when the detrimental effect manifests. Drawing on the transactional model of stress and literature on the moral self, our study examines the psychological strain as a key intermediate mechanism that channels the negative relationship between the ethical conflict and organizational commitment. Furthermore, we posit that employees with different levels of moral identity and moral efficacy may suffer differently from ethical conflict. We tested our research model with two-wave lagged data obtained from 265 healthcare employees and found that the indirect, negative effect of ethical conflict on organizational commitment via psychological strain is strongest among employees with high moral identity and low moral efficacy. Interestingly, results show that employees with low moral identity and high moral efficacy do not suffer from ethical conflict. These findings suggest that ethical conflict is differentially harmful to employees and that a more nuanced understanding of its contingent effects is needed.     

Consumer confusion from own brand lookalikes: An exploratory investigation

Lookalikes are a new generation of own brand products that have similar packaging and labelling characteristics to leading branded products. Their current success and proliferation (in Britain) has raised ethical and legal issues about whether they confuse consumers. A set of factors that foster or inhibit consumer confusion adapted from a framework on consumer confusion, were tested on a sample of 50 shoppers at the end of their shopping visit. No incidents of consumers having falsely bought a lookalike product were identified. However, low‐price products subject to impulse buying were found to be more likely to confuse shoppers. Additionally, elderly and impulsive shoppers appear to be more susceptible to confusion. Thus, effective brand identification or confusion‐protection strategies are more important for the above sets of products and shoppers. However, future research should concentrate on what extent consumers infer “misleading” that the original brand attributes are similar to the lookalike brand attributes and how this is linked to their choice.     

Product familiarity and information processing strategies: An exploratory investigation

A theoretical and empirical examination of the relationship between product class familiarity and usage of information processing strategies is presented. Four major dimensions of information processing strategies are identified and used to conceptualize the linkage between product class familiarity and usage of particular strategies. Research hypotheses are tested in an exploratory study using a laboratory choice situation. Implications of the study with respect to usage of specific strategies and for future research are discussed.     

Competitive position effects and market share: An exploratory investigation

This paper investigates the relative competitive position of a firm with a view toward determining those marketing effort dimensions that significantly influence market share. The study differs from previously published reports in that it utilizes the Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy (PIMS) data base on relative marketing effort to identify key marketing effort variables for two broad classes of goods: consumer nondurables and capital goods. The framework for a competitive positive effects model is developed in terms of nine relative marketing effort dimensions expressed along categories roughly corresponding to competitive superiority, parity, or inferiority. Hypotheses for the two classes of goods, gleaned from the available marketing literature, were empirically tested with use of linear regression models. Though the sets of coefficients relating to the nine marketing decision variables significantly differed ac across industries, similar patterns were found in both groups with respect to the relative breadth of product line and relative product quality dimensions. The results also tended to (a) support the claim of Buzzel et al. [Product Quality, Strategic Planning Institute, Cambridge, 1978] that for product quality to matter, improvements relative to competition must be substantial, and (b) show that for certain effort dimensions striving for competitive superiority may not generate sizable increases in relative market share.     

Beliefs of and attitudes toward political advertising: An exploratory investigation

The major goals of this study were to identify voters' belief structures about political advertising, develop a scale to measure beliefs, and examine how the identified beliefs are related to overall attitudes toward political advertising. The reliabilities, factor structure, and validity tests indicate that five belief dimensions—information, veracity, cynicism, money politics, and entertainment—have sound and stable properties. The scale demonstrates that voters assess political advertising at the instrumental level (e.g., information, veracity, and entertainment) as well as the institutional level (e.g., cynicism and money politics). The results showed that not all beliefs predicted overall attitudes. Furthermore, the results indicated that political involvement was a significant factor in influencing both beliefs and attitudes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Dimensions of success in new product development: An exploratory investigation

As a key element in survival and sustaining growth, the constant development and re‐development of products has been the subject of many academic and consulting group studies. The specific focus of these studies has often been to identify and describe those factors which determine the outcome of new product developments; the critical success factors in NPD. In order to fulfill their objectives, the studies have focused on many aspects of the management of new product development programmes in companies, and attempted to relate them to a number of alternative outcomes. This has called for the measurement of “success” itself. Unfortunately, there is very little consensus amongst the studies regarding how best to operationalize “success”, and researchers have employed a variety of measures, focused on different levels of analysis, sought data from different sources and used different data collection methods. This paper examines the performance measures used in several major NPD studies and shows how success “measures” have been treated as financial and non‐financial. In addition, attention is drawn to the problems inherent in the different definitions of success. Finally, using data from an empirical survey, the relationship between financial and non‐financial outcomes is examined.     

Resolving cross-cultural ethical conflict: Exploring alternative strategies

In this article, seven strategies for dealing with cross-cultural ethical conflict are described. Conflict situations are classified on the basis of centrality and consensus on the values involved, influence of the decision maker, and urgency. A contingency model suggests appropriate strategies for different situations. The model is applied to representative cases of cross-cultural ethical conflict.     

Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers

Business and especially marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their perceptions of ethical consumer practices. In addition, few studies have examined the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers even though they are an important and rapidly growing segment. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical ideology and ethical beliefs for elderly consumers. The results indicate that elderly consumers, while generally being more ethical than younger consumers, are diverse in their eithical beliefs. Dr Scott J. Vitell is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Macromarketing, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of The Academy of Marketing Science, Research in Marketing, various national and regional proceedings, and elsewhere. Dr James R. Lumpkin is the Gene Brauns Professor of Marketing at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He has been published in such journals as the American Journal of Small Business, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, The Gerontologist, Psychological Reports, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and other scholarly journals. Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in Medical Marketing and Media and national proceedings.     

Research note: Sales force opportunism in emerging markets: An exploratory investigation

Do overseas‐based sales forces commit opportunism? Answer to the question is critical for exporting manufacturers who are considering setting up sales offices in emerging markets. This inductive study of 15 British manufacturers in China led to propositions exploring the question. It specifies various contexts in which sales force employees in emerging markets may commit opportunistic behaviors. In those contexts, sales offices in emerging markets may not necessarily combat channel opportunism or save monitoring costs. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Bank ethics: An exploratory study of ethical behaviors and perceptions in small,local banks

This article addresses five research questions: What specific behaviors are described in the literature as ethical or unethical? What percentage of business people are believed to be guilty of unethical behavior? What specific unethical behaviors have been observed by bank employees? How serious are the behaviors? Are experiences and attitudes affected by demographics? Conclusions suggest: There are seventeen categories of behavior, and that they are heavily skewed toward internal behaviors. Younger employees have a higher level of ethical consciousness than older employees. The longer one works for a company, the more one may look to job security as a priority; this can lead to rationalizing or overlooking apparently unethical behaviors. More emphasis is needed on internal behaviors with particular attention on the impact that external behaviors have on internal behaviors.     

An exploratory investigation of problematic online auction behaviors: Experiences of eBay users

eBay hosts more than 12.5 million auctions per day in more than 1000 categories across 28 global markets and attracts more than 43 million unique visitors per month. This paper explores online auction users problematic behaviors that could potentially lead to an addiction. Specifically, we examine the following research questions: what consumer behaviors could be construed as problematic and potentially addictive; do these behaviors generally reflect the core components of addiction; and what are the implications for online auction retailers, managers, and society? Using qualitative methods, the authors identify four key themes that capture problematic behaviors that could lead to online auction addiction. These themes include psychological distress; habitual usage; negative consequences; and dependence, withdrawal and self-regulation.     

Consumer ethics: An empirical investigation of the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers

Business and Marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. In addition, no study has examined the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers even though Austria maintains a unique status of political neutrality, nonalignment, stability, economic prosperity and geographical proximity to the East- and West-European countries. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical ideology and ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers. The results indicate that Austrian consumers are mostly situationists who, while rejecting moral rules, judge the ethics of a behavior by the consequences and outcomes of the situation. Mohammed Y.A. Rawwas is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Northern Iowa. His research has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Marketing Educational Review, Advances in International Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Hospital Marketing, Health Marketing Quarterly, Medical Marketing and Media,among other journals and proceedings.     

An investigation of ethical perceptions of public sector MIS professionals

Management information system (MIS) professionals have a central role in technology development, determining how technology is used in organizations, and the effects it has on clients and society. MIS stakeholders have expressed concern regarding MIS professional's role in computer crime, and security of electronically stored information. It is recognized that MIS professionals must make decisions based on their professional ethics. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) have developed codes of ethics to help guide practitioners with ethical professional decision making. In this study, a model was developed from the combined ACM and DPMA codes of ethics and used in the construction of a survey instrument. The survey was conducted using public sector MIS professionals, and findings relative to the influences that codes of ethics, ethical enforcement systems, and membership in professional organizations has on ethical perception were studied. In addition, the influence that ethical obligation to particular constituencies had on respondents' ethical attitudes was also investigated. The study indicated that ethical obligation of public sector MIS professionals is stronger for management and employers than for peers, society, or clients. Ken Udas is a Research Associate with the Texas A&M University Commitment to Education program. He is completing a Ph.D. in Educational Administration. His research interests are in human services integration, participatory system design, and action research. He has recently co-authored a chapter in the ATE Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. William L. Fuerst is an associate professor of MIS at Texas A & M University and director of the Center for the Management of Information Systems. His research interests center around emerging information technologies, systems development strategies, and MIS planning. Dr. Fuerst has published in MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, and Journal of Management Information Systems, among others.David Paradice has published numerous articles focusing on the use of computer-based systems in support of managerial problem formulation and on the influence of computer-based systems on ethical decision-making processes. He has co-authored a book on Database Management Systems and co-edited a book of readings on ethical issues in the information systems field.     

An exploratory investigation of aberrant consumer behaviour in Libya: a sociocultural approach

Abstract

Studies concerning aberrant consumer behaviour (ACB) are dominated by research conducted in the West. By examining the impact social and cultural factors have on the management and understanding of ACB in Libya, a Muslim country, this paper extends knowledge by exploring this issue in a different setting. Materials were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 26 sellers in Libya and ACB was explored in three different contexts: grocery stores, computer stores and hotels. The study finds that the sellers use alternative marketplace behaviours to manage ACB to that described in the literature, namely informal, community-based approaches that reflect accepted societal and cultural norms. Furthermore, the study finds that not all activities reported to be ACB in the literature are perceived to be misbehaviour by the Libyan sellers.     

The determinants of foreign giving: An exploratory empirical investigation of US manufacturing firms

To date, there is ample evidence on the determinants of domestic charitable contributions made by US firms. However, to the best of our knowledge, no one has investigated the determinants of foreign charitable contributions made by US firms. Using the Socrates KLD database and the US M&A data for the 2004–2010 period, we find evidence that foreign giving by US manufacturing firms is linked to certain key variables. Specifically, we find evidence that variables found significant in the domestic giving literature (pre entry return on assets, size, debt to asset ratio, market to book ratio, and research and development expense as a function of sales) are also found significant for foreign giving. However, and notably, cultural distance and foreign sales percentage have been found to be important discriminators between manufacturing firms who give abroad and those who do not. It appears that high international business experience (proxied by the foreign sales ratio) and operations in culturally distant countries motivate foreign giving. Finally, subsample analysis involving developed and developing countries suggests that cultural distance matters for developing countries, but does not for the developed country subsample. Firm level profitability matters for developed countries, but not for developing countries. Future research may be expanded to include the dollar amounts of giving and a bigger sample size. Differences in foreign giving patterns between manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms, and by firms in countries other than the US, may also be explored.     

The impact of ethical climate types on facets of job satisfaction: An empirical investigation

This study examines the impact of ethical climate types (professionalism, caring, rules, instrumental, efficiency, and independence) on various facets of job satisfaction (pay, promotions, co-workers, supervisors, and work itself) in a large non-profit organization. Professionalism was the most reported and efficiency was the least reported ethical climate type in the organization. Among various facets of job satisfaction, respondents were most satisfied with their work and least satisfied with their pay. None of the climate types significantly influenced satisfaction with pay. A professional climate significantly influenced satisfaction with promotions, supervisors, and work. It also significantly influenced overall job satisfaction. Those respondents who believed that their organization had caring climate were more satisfied with their supervisors. An instrumental climate had a significant negative influence on overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with promotions, co-workers, and supervisors. Rules, efficiency, and independence climate types did not significantly affect any facets of job satisfaction. Satish Deshpande is an Associate Professor of Management at Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University. He teaches human resource management courses. His current research interests include business ethics, managerial decision-making, and applied psychology in human resource issues. His publications include articles in the Academy of Management Journal, Compensation and Benefits Review, Human Relations, Journal of Small Business Management, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.     

Consumer ethics: An empirical investigation of factors influencing ethical judgments of the final consumer

Business and marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. This research investigates general attitudes of consumers relative to business, government and people in general, and compares these attitudes to their beliefs concerning various questionable consumer practices. The results show that consumers' ethical beliefs are determined, in part, by who is at fault in the unethical behavior (the seller or the buyer). The results also indicate that those with a more positive attitude toward business are less likely to engage in questionable consumer practices, but one's attitudes toward salespeople, the government and people in general arenot related to the consumer's ethical beliefs.Scott J. Vitell is an Associate Professor and the Michael S. Starnes Professor of Marketing and Business Ethics at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in theJournal of Macromarketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, Research in Marketing and numerous other journals and proceedings.James A. Muncy is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Clemson University. His publications have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journal of Marketing Education, andAdvances in Consumer Research. He has also published in the National Proceedings of the American Marketing Association and the American Psychological Association and has published five chapters in books. He is active in the Association for Consumer Research, acting as its Publications Director and Newsletter Coeditor.     

An exploratory investigation into how socioeconomic attributes influence coupons redeeming intentions

In this study, we examine the effects that opportunity cost, income effect, coupon proneness and devaluation effect have on coupon redemption intention. Overall, the results of a survey received from approximately 2250 respondents suggest that prospect of savings and coupon proneness are positively associated, while opportunity cost is inversely associated with coupon redemption intention. The results are consistent across several sub-samples of grocery stores, which further underline the robustness of our hypotheses. Our analyses are more exhaustive than and therefore, contribute to, extant literature on promotions using coupons, because we base our study on behavioral, social and economic factors that influence coupon redemption intentions.