The Principle of Moral Projection: A reply to Professor Ranken

This article responds to two criticisms by Professor Nani Ranken of the Principle of Moral Projection in business ethics. In the process it enlarges upon our understanding of the moral agenda of management and the corporation as a participant in ethical transactions. Kenneth E. Goodpaster is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University. He has published articles in a wide variety of journals, including the Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, Environmental Ethics, the Journal of Business Ethics, Thought, and the Harvard Business Review. He has also edited or authored five books: Perspectives on Morality: Essays of William Frankena (1976) Ethics and Problems of the 21st Century (1979) Regulation, Values and the Public Interest (1980) Ethics in Management (1984) and Policies and Persons: A Casebook in Business Ethics (1985). Work in progress includes a monograph on management and moral philosophy (1987).     

International migration versus foreign investment in the presence of unemployment

"This paper extends the standard (two-factor, one-good) model of international factor movements, to include unemployment due to a minimum-income guarantee within the capital-abundant country. From this country's perspective, we establish important departures from previous (full-employment) results. Most notably, our analysis shows that: (1) free factor mobility is worse than no mobility; (2) the optimal degree of labour migration is zero; and (3) national welfare can always be maximized by an optimal flow of capital. The analysis is then extended to examine: (1) illegal migration; (2) subsidization of employment; and (3) alternative views of unemployment."     

GRAMPIES: A new breed of consumers comes of age

The aging of the world's population, and the qualities those people bring to the over-60 market, have created a new breed. GRAMPIES, Growing Retired Active Monied People In an Excellent State, no longer constitute a dull and destitute gerontocracy, but an exciting target and challenge for the world's marketers.     

Fostering ethical marketing decisions

This paper begins by examining several potentially unethical recent marketing practices. Since most marketing managers face ethical dilemmas during their careers, it is essential to study the moral consequences of these decisions. A typology of ways that managers might confront ethical issues is proposed. The significant organizational, personal and societal costs emanting from unethical behavior are also discussed. Both relatively simple frameworks and more comprehensive models for evaluating ethical decisions in marketing are summarized. Finally, the fact that organizational commitment to fostering ethical marketing decisions can be accomplished by top management leadership, codes of ethics, ethics seminars/programs and ethical audits is examined. Gene R. Laczniak is Professor of Business at Marquette University. He has written extensively in the field of marketing and business ethics. He is coeditor of Marketing Ethics: Guidelines for Managers, Lexington Books, 1985 and coauthor of The Higher Road: A Path to Ethical Marketing Decisions, Allyn & Bacon, 1992 (both with P. E. Murphy). Professor Laczniak's research interests focus on the social and ethical influence of marketing activities on society as well as marketing strategy. Patrick E. Murphy is Professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame. His articles on business and marketing ethics have appeared in several periodicals. He currently serves as editor of Journal of Public Policy & Marketing and is coeditor of Marketing and Advertising Regulation: The Federal Trade Commission in the 1990s, Notre Dame Press, 1990 (with W. L. Wilkie). His research interests focus on the ethical and public policy issues facing business.This article is based on material forthcoming in The Higher Road: A Path to Ethical Marketing Decisions, Allyn & Bacon, 1992.     

Justice in preferential hiring

This paper reports studies designed to examine perceptions of preferential selection. Subjects evaluated the fairness of hypothetical cases of selection decisions based on either candidate sex or ethnic origin. A within-subjects design and a between-subjects design yielded convergent results showing that (1) preferential selection was perceived as unfair, irrespective of respondent sex or the basis for the preferential treatment (i.e., candidate sex or ethnic origin), (2) the level of perceived injustice was directly related to the discrepancy in merits between the successful minority candidate and the more qualified yet unsuccessful majority candidate, and (3) the provision of either an ethical or legislative justification for the selection decisions further exacerbated feelings of injustice. Possible interpretations for the findings and practical implications of the study were then discussed. M. S. Singer is a senior lecturer in psychology at Canterbury University. Her published work includes papers in Personnel Psychology, Journal of Applied Psychology, Current Psychology: Research and Reviews,and Applied Psychology: An International Review. A. E. Singer is a senior lecturer in strategic management and business ethics at Canterbury University. He has published various papers in academic journals including Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, Decision Sciences, International Journal of Forecasting, International Journal of Research in Marketing,and Journal of Business Ethics.     

OPTIMAL INTERNATIONAL DEBT AND ENDOGENOUS TIME PREFERENCE IN A DEMOGRAPHICALLY DIVIDED WORLD (*)

The international transmission of shocks in population growth and technology is examined in an interdependent two-country world economy; decisions concerning the intertemporal allocation are made by social planners with an infinite horizon and an endogenous rate of time preference. Steady state shocks in population growth are shown to be negatively transmitted to the rate of time preference. In the steady state, the optimal foreign debt is determinate and it brings about a convergence of time preference. The net creditor and debtor positions in the steady state depend on the discount rate functions, the states of technology and the rates of population growth.     

The contribution of home economics teaching to nutrition knowledge and food choice among adolescents

The diets of two groups of adolescent schoolchildren living in Lothian were assessed. Children who studied Home Economics at Standard Grade were compared with those who did not. A short questionnaire and a dietary diary were used to establish nutrition knowledge and food choice over a period of 7 days, allowing comparisons to be drawn between students who study Home Economics and those who do not. Nutrition knowledge was better among those studying Home Economics. Eating patterns among those studying Home Economics followed more closely the recommended percentages of dietary energy derived from protein, fat and carbohydrate, but there was also considerable evidence that those studying Home Economics tended to eat less generally and to have lower intakes of micronutrients, such as calcium, iron and folic acid. Possible reasons for the differences in nutrition knowledge and eating habits are discussed, with some indicators for future work in this area.     

The effects of product knowledge on the evaluation of warranteed brands

This study explores the effects of consumer knowledge on respondents' evaluations of both known and unknown brands that include either a 2-year or a 20-year warranty. Both experts and nonexperts evaluated warranty as more important than brand name in their product quality decision. Warranty length was positively correlated with product quality perceptions for both known and unknown brands. With the unknown brand, nonexperts perceived significant improvement in product quality when the warranty length was increased from 2 to 20 years. For the known brand, nonexperts perceived little difference in quality for the two warranty lengths. Experts indicated no significant differences in perceived quality, given the four brand/warranty-length conditions. The results indicate that warranty length is most heavily weighted as a cue to product quality when consumers are not highly knowledgeable, and the brand name is not well known. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Gender and ethical orientation: A test of gender and occupational socialization theories

Ethics and associated values influence not only managerial behavior but also managerial success (England and Lee, 1973). Gender socialization theory hypothesizes gender differences in ethics variables whether or not individuals are full time employees; occupational socialization hypothesizes gender similarity in employees. The conflicting hypotheses were investigated using questionnaire responses from a sample of 308 individuals. Analysis of variance and hierarchical regression yielded unexpected results. Although no significant gender differences emerged in individuals lacking full time employment, significant differences existed between employed women and men, with women appearing more ethical. While occupational socialization predicts an interaction between employment status and gender, these group differences were opposite to those predicted. An implication for the two theories and the current conflicting research support is that these commonly used theories may be of limited usefulness. Some alternative concepts are proposed.E. Sharon Mason is an Assistant Professor of organizational behavior and human resource management in the Faculty of Business, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario.Peter E. Mudrack is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Organization Sciences at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.