Attitudes toward ethics: A view of the college student

This study investigated the differences in responses of undergraduate business students to an ethical dilemma. Demographic characteristics were collected on the respondents and profiled as a means of examining common bases for decision. The authors found that certain demographic characteristics appear to be predictors of ethical decision behavior of future businessmen.Eugene W. Grant, Jr. is Accounting Professor at Samford University. He has published several books as well as numerous articles. One of his areas of research interest is the predicability of ethical decision behavior in potential employees. Prior to joining academia, he was a consultant with the firm of Ernst & Whinney.Lowell Broom is the Dwight Moody Beeson Professor of Accounting at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. Professor Broom received his DBA in Accounting from Louisiana Tech University and is a CPA. He has previously served on the faculty of Baylor University and was employed by Ernst & Whinney prior to entering teaching.     

Differences in ethical perceptions between male and female managers: Myth or reality?

This study sought to identify whether or not differences exist between the ethical decisions of male and female managers; and, if they do exist, to identify the areas in which differences occurred. An additional evaluation was conducted to determine how each perceived their counterpart would respond to the same ethical decision making situations.Data were collected from 50 male managers and 50 female managers by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Distinctive demographic characteristics were noted among the segments.The results showed only one area where a significant difference existed between males and females on what they considered to be ethical. However, there were significant differences in 16 out of 17 situations when they rated the ethical behavior of their male/female counterparts, i.e., males rated females as being significantly less ethical than themselves and vice versa.Jeaneen M. Kidwell is Corporate Sales Trainer of Avon Products, Inc. Robert E. Stevens is Professor of Marketing at Northeast Louisiana University. He is the author of five books and over thirty articles have appeared in Journal of Purchasing, Journal of Retailing, Business Horizons, and Supervising Management. Art L. Bethke is Associate Professor of Management at Northeast Louisiana University. He has been awarded Senior Professional in Human Resources 1982 and 1985. His articles have been published in Supervisory Management, Personnel Administrator, and Review of Business and Economic Research.     

Consumer complaint handling in an advanced developing economy: An empirical investigation

The purpose of this article is to examine consumer protection, complaint, and statisfaction/dissatisfaction behaviors in developing countries with special reference to an advanced developing country — Turkey. The study was designed to describe consumer complaint handling issues in urban Turkey. It tries to explain consumer behavior differences along five consumer product categories as to the frequency and manner of consumer complaining behavior and suggests insights into the effectiveness of consumer complaint handling policies in Turkey. It is maintained that the study results are also applicable to other developing countries which are at a similar level of socio-economic and technological development.Erdener Kaynak, Ph.D. is currently a Professor of Marketing at the School of Business Administration of The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Kaynak has served as a business consultant and training adviser to a number of Turkish, Canadian, Dutch, American, Peruvian, Yugoslavian, and international organizations. A prolific author, he has published over one hundred articles in refereed scholarly and professional journals as well as being the author or co-author of thirteen books. Dr. Kaynak is also Executive Editor ofInternational Business Press (IBP), an imprint of the Haworth Press Inc. of New York, London, and Sydney. In this capacity, in addition to being responsible for the international business book series, he edits several international marketing journals.Orsay Kucukemiroglu is presently an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Pennsylvania State University, York Campus, York, Pennsylvania. He holds a B.S. degree in Economics, an M.A. in Statistics, and an M.Sc. in Business Administartion and Operations Research. He also holds a CPA designation in the Communwealth of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kucukemiroglu has published articles in such journals asDecision Sciences, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Professional Services Marketing as well as presenting papers before various learned societies in North America and in Europe.Yavuz Odabasi is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Vocational Training School of Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey. A graduate of Turkish and U.S. universities, Dr. Odabasi was a faculty member at Erciyes University before joining his current university. He has published articles in such journals asService Industries Journal, International Journal of Bank Marketing as well as publishing in Turkish academic and professional journals.     

The impact of a shift in organizational role on ethical perceptions: A comparative study

This study investigates ethical decision-making by considering the differences in ethical judgments between undergraduate business and MBA students on selected ethical issues facing employees and managers of today's businesses. The study further investigates differences in ethical judgments between undergraduates and MBAs in terms of a perceived position as an employee or as a manager. The findings indicate that undergraduate students tend to be more ethical than MBA students and that both groups tend to be more ethical when they perceive themselves as managers rather than employees. The authors discuss the implications for both business practitioners and educators.Shohreh A. Kaynama is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a Ph.D. in Marketing and the Decision Sciences. Dr. Kaynama has published extensively in numerous National and International proceedings. Her area of research is strategic marketing, consumer behavior, applications of computers and decision sciences in marketing and global marketing. Louise W. Smith is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Smith's main professional interest is consumer behavior. Dr. Smith's articles have appeared in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Marketing among others. Algin B. King is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has served on the Faculties of seven universities, publishing numerous articles in National Professional Meetings Proceedings and scholarly journals including Journal of Euro-Marketing, Atlantic Economic Journal. In addition he has served as a business consultant to numerous business firms.     

Identifying the gaps in ethical perceptions between managers and salespersons: A multidimensional approach

This research examines, in a general manner, the degree and character of perceptual congruity between salespeople and managers on ethical issues. Salespeople and managers from a diversity of organizations were presented with three scenarios having varying degrees of ethical content and were asked to evaluate the action of the individual in each scenario. Findings indicate that, in every instance, the participating managers tended (1) to be more critical of the action displayed in the scenarios, (2) to view the action as violating a sense of contract or promise, and (3) to view the action as less culturally acceptable than did the salespeople.Tony L. Henthorne is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Henthorne has published in such journals asPsychology and Marketing andJournal of Professional Services Marketing.Donald P. Robin is Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Robin is coauthor with Eric Reidenbach of two recent books on business ethics. Dr. Robin has contributed several articles on business ethics in such journals asJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andJournal of Business Ethics. He is also a frequent lecturer on the topic of business ethics.R. Eric Reidenbach is the Director of the Center for Business Development and Research and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Reidenbach has written numerous articles for such journals asJournal of Business Ethics, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Dr. Reidenbach has coauthored two books on business ethics.     

Consumer Believability of Information in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertising of Prescription Drugs

Direct to consumer (DTC) advertising has attracted significant research attention, yet none has focused on empirical assessments of its overall impact on U.S. consumers nationally, and tying assessment to relevant behavioral outcomes. This paper addresses the ethical issue of DTC advertising providing a balance of product and risk information that is both understandable and believable, and contributes direction to those exploring this phenomenon. Richard F. Beltramini is currently Professor of Marketing in the School of Business Administration at Wayne State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, and served on the faculty of Arizona State University for fifteen years. His teaching interests include advertising and marketing management, research, and strategy. His primary research focus is on the believability of marketing communications information, and he has published in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and a variety of other journals, conference proceedings, and books as well as co-editing Gift Giving: A Research Anthology. Dr. Beltramini has served on the Editorial Review Boards of a number of academic journals, as guest editor of special issues of the Journal of Business Ethics and the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, as international president of the American Academy of Advertising, as a member of the American Advertising Federation's National Academic Committee and several other professional and business organizations, and is active as a consultant to several international organizations. He is the recipient of several national competitive grants and awards for his teaching and research, including the National Science Foundation, is the only faculty recipient of both his school’s Excellence in Research and Excellence in Teaching awards, and is currently the first Board of Visitors Faculty Fellow. Prior to academe, Dr. Beltramini worked for Texas Instruments, Inc. and The Drawing Board, Inc., both in Dallas, and he has also worked as a Visiting Research Professor for J. Walter Thompson Advertising in Chicago, Honeywell Information Systems in Phoenix, and the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.     

The depiction of senior citizens in magazine advertisements: A content analysis

This study utilized a content analysis of magazine advertisements to measure the frequency that senior citizens were used as models in the advertisements and the extent to which they were presented in a desirable or undersirable light, relative to younger persons. A sample of consumer magazines was examined, in order to assess hypotheses related to the depiction of seniors by advertisers. The research results were analyzed and conclusions drawn which can be of potential value to marketers whose goods and services have potential appeal to older consumers.Robin T. Peterson is Sunwest Financial Services Distinguished Professor at New Mexico State University. He received a B.S. and M.S. and a Ph.D. He has published a number of articles and books on business administration.     

Relationship between Machiavellianism and Type A personality and ethical-orientation

Results of a study investigating the relation between personality traits and ethical-orientation indicate sex is not an good predictor for differences in Machiavellian-, Type A personality- or ethical-orientation. Intelligence is found to be positively associated with Machiavellian- and Type A personality-orientation but negatively associated with ethical-orientation. Machiavellians tend to have Type A personalities, but tend to be less ethically-oriented than Nonmachiavellians. Type A personalities are more ethically-orientated than Type B personalities. John Michael Rayburn is Professor of Marketing, The University of Tennessee at Martin. He earned his DBA and has extensive experience in the health care industry as administrator of a 1,000 bed hospital; a 174 bed state psychiatric hospital; and President and CEO of a 200 bed hospital system. He has numerous articles and presentations and is a member of several professional organizations. He has recently received two outstanding teaching awards [student and faculty vote], the outstanding service award [faculty vote], and excellence in research awards [outside peer review]. He has recently implemented a business ethics course in the school of business administration. Letricia Gayle Rayburn, is Professor of Accountancy, Southeast Missouri State University College of Business Administration. She is also a Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst. She earned a Ph.D. in Accountancy and has had both public and industrial accounting experience. She is the author of over 120 published professional articles. Her book Cost Accounting: Cost Management Concepts, is published by Richard D. Irwin. She is also the author of another book entitled Financial Tools for Effective Marketing and co-author of a book entitled Financial Accounting. She is currently past president of the Management Accounting Section, American Accounting Association. She has served a three-year term as a member of the Board of Regents of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of IMA, as a member of the Committee on Research of IMA and on various other AAA Management Accounting Sections, IMA, and AICPA Committees. Dr. Rayburn is a member of AICPA, Institute of Management Accountants, American Accounting Association, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma.     

Exploring the structure of ethical attributions as a component of the consumer decision model: The vicarious versus personal perspective

The managerial ethics literature is used as a base for the inclusion of Ethical Attribution, as an element in the consumer's decision process. A situational model of ethical consideration in consumer behavior is proposed and examined for Personal vs. Vicarious effects. Using a path analytic approach, unique structures are reported for Personal and Vicarious situations in the evaluation of a seller's unethical behavior. An attributional paradigm is suggested to explain the results. Joel Whalen is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at DePaul University, Chicago. He has published articles in Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Business Ethics. His research has been published in the proceedings of the American Marketing Association's Micro-Computers in Marketing Conference; Atlantic Marketing Association; the American Marketing Association Conference on Culture and Sub-Cultural Influences; Northeast Decision Science Institute, Southern Marketing Association, and Decision Sciences Institute. Robert E. Pitts, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing and the Director of the Kellstadt Center for Marketing Analysis and Planning at DePaul University. He served as a member of the faculty of Jacksonville State University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Mississippi. Dr. Pitts' research has appeared in numerous publications including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Bank Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Social Psychology, Southern Economic Review, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Behavioral Economics, The Mid-South Journal of Economics, Psychology and Marketing, Marketing and Media Decisions and Journal of Insurance Issues and Practices. Dr. Pitts is the editor of Personal Values and Consumer Psychology (Lexington Publishers, and co-author of Bank Marketing, A Guide to Strategic Planning, and Effective Bank Marketing Issues, Techniques and Application. Over the past decade, Dr. Pitts has served as a consultant to such firms as General Motors Corporation, Congolium Corp-Kinder Division, National Standard Steel Corp, WalMart Corp Training Programs, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce and Council of State Chambers of Commerce. John K. Wong teaches International Marketing Management and Consumer Behavior at DePaul University. He served as a member of the faculty of the University of Missouri at Columbia and Washington State University. Dr. Wong's research has appeared in numerous publications including the International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, International Journal of Bank Marketing and the proceedings of the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of International Business and Pan-Pacific Business Association.     

Transition Ethics: A Comparison of Ukrainian and United States Business Professionals

This article compares the ethical attitudes of Ukrainian business professionals with those of United States business professionals. A widely used survey instrument consisting of 16 hypothetical situations involving ethical dilemmas was employed to gather information on ethical attitudes in the two countries. On 13 of 16 vignettes, Ukrainian respondents demonstrated less stringent ethical attitudes than did their United States counterparts. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed, with primary emphasis on the transition from one economic system to another that is underway in Ukraine. Comments from Ukrainian respondents are presented so as to give an indication of the thought processes behind the questionnaire responses. Olena Vynoslavska is Head of Psychology and Pedagogics Chair at the National Technical University of Ukraine, Kyiv. She has been a research scholar under the sponsorship of the International Research and Educational Exchange program of the United States Department of State at Baylor University. Her research has included international comparative studies of entrepreneurship and management techniques. Joseph A. McKinney is Ben H. Williams Professor of International Economics at Baylor University. He was previously on the faculty of the University of Virginia, and has served as visiting professor or research scholar to universities in Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. His research interests include business ethics, international trade policy, and regional economic integration. Carlos W. Moore is the Edwin W. Streetman Professor of Marketing at Baylor University, where he has been on the faculty for more than 30 years. His research interests include business ethics, marketing and advertising evaluation, and small business strategies. He has done consulting on bank marketing and new product development. Justin G. Longenecker is Emeritus Professor of Management at Baylor University. His research interests include business ethics, entrepreneurship, and family business. He is co-author of the leading text on small business management, and is the author of scholarly articles on various aspects of business management.     

The appropriateness of fear appeal use for health care marketing to the elderly: Is it OK to scare granny?

In this paper we explore the intersection of three topics which have historically been singled out for ethical consideration in advertising and marketing: the use of fear appeals, marketing to the elderly, and the marketing of health care services and products. Issues relevant to using fear appeals in promoting health care issues to the elderly are explored with a consumer psychologist's theoretical view of fear appeals. Next the assumption of the elderly market's vulnerability and indicants of social or psychological function which would differentiate the elderly recipients of marketing communications are examined both in terms of function and ethical concerns.Overall, our review of the theoretical underpinnings of fear-based communication and the psychological characteristics does not indicate that the elderly of today are particularlyvulnerable. While the elderly are probably somewhat more dogmatic than younger consumers and perhaps view outcomes from the perspective of their age, there are no indications that their psychological responses to fear-based appeals differ significantly from those of younger consumers.Suzeanne Benet is on the faculty at Grand Valley State University. She received a Ph.D. in Business Administration. She has also been on the faculty at DePaul University in Chicago. Dr. Benet's research has primarily focused on marketing to the elderly and related public policy concerns.Robert E. Pitts is Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing and the Director of Kellstadt Center for Marketing Analysis and Planning at DePaul University. He served as a member of the faculty of Jacksonville State University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Mississippi. Dr. Pitts' research has appeared in numerous publications including theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Bank Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Social Marketing Education, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Social Psychology, Southern Economic Review, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Behavioral Economics, The Mid-South Journal of Economics, Psychology and Marketing, Marketing and Media Decisions andJournal of Insurance Issues and Practices. Dr. Pitts is the editor ofPersonal Values and Consumer Psychology (Lexington Publishers) and co-author ofBank Marketing, A Guide to Strategic Planning, andEffective Bank Marketing Issues, Techniques and Application. Over the past decade, Dr. Pitts has served as a consultant to such firms as General Motors Corporation, Congolium Corp-Kinder Division, National Standard Steel Corp., WalMart Corp. Training Programs, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce and Council of State Chambers of Commerce.Michael S. LaTour is Associate Professor of Marketing at Auburn University. Dr. LaTour graduated with honors in 1986 in Business Administration. Dr. LaTour's research interests focus upon arousal responses to advertising and associated ethical issues. He has published in a variety of scholarly journals includingThe Journal of Business Ethics, The Journal of Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, The Journal of Health Care Marketing, andThe Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.Second and third authors contributed equally to this article.     

Business Ethics: Law As A Determinant of Business Conduct

The Principles of Corporate Governance require that business conduct conform to the law. In recent years, news reports of business misconduct have cast doubt on a conclusion that conformity is the prevalent practice. This article explores the influence of law on business conduct by comparing the law’s requirements and purposes with actual business conduct in the market. Specifically, it explores whether certain legal regimes are more effective than others in inducing greater commitment to legal compliance by corporate actors. The conclusion drawn is that the prevalent legal regime – a vague common law or legislative mandate – is typically associated with corporate conduct that evades or ignores the law’s mandate or its underlying purpose. Vincent Di Lorenzo is Professor of Law; Senior Fellow, Vincentian Center for Church and Society, St. John's University; J.D. Columbia University (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar); Associate Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. Before joining the faculty at St. John's University School of Law, Professor Di Lorenzo was a member of the faculty at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and was associated with a major Wall Street firm practicing in the real estate-banking department. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. Professor Di Lorenzo has authored many articles and books in the banking, legislation and real estate areas.     

The Unholy Alliance of Business and Science

This paper will build on a recent article appearing in the Harvard Business Review that blamed the alleged crisis in management education on the scientific model that has been adopted as the sole means of gaining knowledge about human behavior and organizations. The solution, they argue, is for business schools to realize that business management is not a scientific discipline but a profession, and deal with the things a professional education requires. We will expand on this article and discuss its implications by looking at the scientific model from a philosophical perspective and dealing with the issue of whether management is a profession. Our discussion of these issues has implications for our understanding of business in society and the design of the business school curriculum. Rogene A. Buchholz is the Legendre-Soule Chair in Business Ethics Emeritus in the College of Business Administration at Loyola University of New Orleans. He has published over seventy-five articles and is the author of ten books in the areas of business and public policy, business ethics, and the environment. He is on the editorial board of several journals and served as chair of the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management. Sandra B. Rosenthal is Provost Eminent Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University of New Orleans. She has published approximately 200 articles and 11 books on various dimensions of American pragmatism and its relevance for other areas of philosophy, and in both books and articles has applied pragmatism to a wide range of business ethics issues. She is a member of the editorial board of several journals, and has served as president of numerous philosophical societies.     

Some initial steps toward improving the measurement of ethical evaluations of marketing activities

This study reports on the development of scale items derived from the pluralistic moral philosophy literature. In addition, the manner in which individuals combine aspects of the different philosophies in making ethical evaluations was explored.R. Eric Reidenbach holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Michigan State University. At present he is a Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Business Development and Research at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published a number of articles in different marketing journals. In addition, he is the co-author of several books on bank marketing. Dr. Donald P. Robin received his DBA degree from Louisiana State University in 1969 and is currently Professor of Marketing in the College of Business, Louisiana Tech University. His basic marketing textbook entitled, Marketing: Basic Concepts for Decision Making (Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.), and his co-authored readings book, Classics in Marketing (Goodyear Press), were both published in 1978. He is the author of articles in a wide variety of topics that have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, The Journal of Business Communications, Journal of Business Research, and Academy of Management Journal.     

A conceptual model of corporate moral development

The conceptual model presented in this article argues that corporations exhibit specific behaviors that signal their true level of moral development. Accordingly, the authors identify five levels of moral development and discuss the dynamics that move corporations from one level to another. Examples of corporate behavior which are indicative of specific stages of moral development are offered.R. Eric Reidenbach is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Business Development and Research at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has written extensively on business and marketing ethics.Donald P. Robin, Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi, is coauthor with R. Eric Reidenbach of two recent books on business ethics with Prentice-Hall. He is a frequent lecturer on business ethics and is the author of several articles on the subject.     

Situational ethics: An empirical study of differentiators of student attitudes

This paper reports the results of a questionnaire administered to 1178 undergraduate students and discusses how they responded to ten situations which asked them to assess their personal evaluation of the ethical acceptability, how society would similarly assess the situation and how business persons would respond. Multiple versions of the instrument were developed to investigate if the sex of the person involved in the situation would influence the respondents' perception of the ethical action involved. No differences were identified. Further, the image of business persons as less ethical than society in general seems to have evaporated. Charles W. McNichols is Professor of Management at Clemson University where he teaches courses emphasizing management applications of computer technology. He was previously Professor of Operations Research at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He has published three books dealing with business and professional applications of microcomputers, and articles in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology,the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management,and other management publications. Thomas W. Zimmer is Professor of Management at Clemson University. He has authored books on business, business policy supervision and small business management, as well as over 50 articles which have appeared in Nation's Business, Management Review, Human Resources Management,and many others. Dr. Zimmerer has been honored in his academic career by membership both in Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi, as well as twice being voted by the students as the outstanding teacher in his college. In 1975 he was elected to Outstanding Educators in American. Dr. Zimmerer was formerly with Florida Atlantic University and the McDonald-Douglas Corporation.     

A response to “On Measuring Ethical Judgments”

This article discusses the major criticisms posed in On Measuring Ethical Judgments concerning our ethics scale development work. We agree that the authors of the criticism do engage in what they accurately refer to as armchair theorizing. We point out the errors in their comments.Dr. R. Eric Reidenbach is Professor of Marketing at The University of Southern Mississippi. He is the coauthor of two books on business ethics and writes extensively on the subject of the measurement of ethical decision making.Dr. Donald P, Robin is Professor of Marketing and Professor of Business Ethics at The University of Southern Mississippi. He is coauthor of two books on business ethics, as well as numerous articles. Dr. Robin is also a frequent lecturer on the subject of business and marketing ethics.     

Ethical orientations of managers in Malaysia

In view of the heightened societal attention to the ethical aspects of business behaviour, there has been, in recent years, a great deal of discussion regarding individual and organisational factors influencing managerial decision making. The main focus of this paper is on understanding the attitudes of managers toward ethical dimension of their choices and judgments, as also the forces that pressurise, provide them with opportunities, or contribute to shaping their intentions, for ethical or unethical actions. Findings reported here are based on a questionnaire-survey of 381 managers from 41 commercial organisations in Malaysia.Dr. J. L. Gupta is Professor at National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune, India. He has authored two books on management and has published several research articles on the subject of Leadership and Ethics. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Development.Mohamed Sulaiman is Professor of Management at University of Science Malaysia (USM), Penang. He has authored several research monographs and published articles in reputed business journals. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of Corporate Policy and Strategic Management, Organisation Design and Marketing. Dr Mohamed Sulaiman is currently the Dean of School of Management, USM.     

Linking management behavior to ethical philosophy

This study investigates current linkages between ethical theory and management behavior. The vignettes used in this investigation represent ethical dilemmas in the areas of coercion and control, conflict of interest, physical environment, and personal integrity. The results indicate that even with the heightened state of ethical awareness that has evolved in recent years the link between ethical philosophy and management behavior remains basically the same as it was in the mid 1980s. Specifically, practitioners still rely almost totally on the utilitarian ethical philosophy when making business decisions.Shane R. Premeaux is a Professor of Marketing, and the Associate Dean at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is an avid author with over fifty articles appearing in such journals asPersonnel, Peronnel Journal, Personnel Administrator, Transportation Journal, theLogistics and Transportation Review, and theJournal of Small Business Management. He has also co-authored books entitled:Personal Selling: Function, Theory, and Practice, 3rd ed.,Supervision, 2nd ed.,Human Resources Management, 4th ed.,Management and Organization Behavior, 1st ed., andManagement Concepts, Practices, and Skills, 5th ed.R. Wayne Mondy is a Professor of Management and Dean of the College of Business at McNeese State University. Dr. Mondy has authored or co-authored seven college textbooks, two trade books, fifty-one articles, and twenty papers. Dr. Mondy is an avid author with numerous articles in various refereed journals. He has coauthored the following books:Staffing the Contemporary Organization, 1st ed.,Personal Selling: Function, Theory, and Practice, 3rd ed.,Supervision, 2nd ed.,Human Resources Management, 4th ed.,Management and Organizational Behavior, 1st ed., andManagement Concepts, Practices, and Skills, 5th ed.     

Toward the development of a multidimensional scale for improving evaluations of Business Ethics

This study represents an improvement in the ethics scales inventory published in a 1988 Journal of Business Ethics article. The article presents the distillation and validation process whereby the original 33 item inventory was reduced to eight items. These eight items comprise the following ethical dimensions: a moral equity dimension, a relativism dimension, and a contractualism dimension. The multidimensional ethics scale demonstrates significant predictive ability.Dr Reidenbach is the Director of the Center for Business Development and Research and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the co-author of two books on business ethics and has contributed numerous articles on ethics to various academic and applied business journals. Dr Donald P. Robin, Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing, is co-author with Dr R. Eric Reidenbach of two recent books (1989) on business ethics. Both books, Business Ethics: Where Profits Meet Value Systems and Ethics and Profits: A Convergence of Corporate America's Economic and Social Responsibilities were published by Prentice-Hall. Dr Robin is a frequent lecturer on business ethics and has written several articles on the subject for both ethics and business journals.