Ethics in Global Business and in a Plural Society

The contemporary confluence of globalization and ethical pluralism is at the origin of many ethical challenges that confront business nowadays, both in practice and in theory. One of the challenges arising from the development of globalization has to do with respect for cultural diversity. It is often said that the success of economic globalization tends towards social and cultural homogeneity. To the extent that cultural diversity is usually seen as a valuable reality, that global trend seems to contradict our efforts to respect ethical pluralism, both personal and cultural, within society. In this paper I argue that (a) ethical minimalism, despite its emphasis on tolerance and justice, does not take pluralism seriously into account in present-day society, and (b) ethical minimalism is not suited to balancing the homogenizing trend of globalization. Certainly ethical norms are necessary, but by no means are they sufficient in themselves to encourage either justice or tolerance; nor are they sufficient to inspire and encourage good practices and sound regulations. Instead, virtue-based ethics has the capacity of inspiring and encouraging good practices. Particularly, virtue-based ethics is able to inspire a serious dialogue about ethical and legal issues both in the public arena and within organizations.     

Are We Sending Mixed Messages? How Philosophical Naturalism Erodes Ethical Instruction

To develop critical thinking skills, higher order ethical reasoning, a better grasp of the implications of ethical decisions, and a basis for ethical knowledge, it is necessary to explore the philosophical premises foundational to one’s ethical persuasion. No philosophical premises are more important than those pertaining to the nature of human personhood and business’ responsibility to respect the inherent value of human beings. Philosophical naturalism assigns the essence of human personhood strictly to causal interactions of physical matter. Substance dualism, on the other hand, posits both a physical aspect and an immaterial substance to personhood, interacting within the totality of each being. This paper argues for the logical superiority of substance dualism in achieving the overriding objective of discerning ethical knowledge. Substance dualism offers a better explanation – and one that more closely follows the way most people commonly experience themselves and others–than naturalism for free agency and accountability, meaningful moral standards, confidence in knowing what ethical decisions to make, and the moral drive residing in conscience. Marjorie J. Cooper (aka Caballero), Ph. D. is a Professor of Marketing in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University in Texas. She received her B.A. from Wheaton College in 1970, her M.B.A. from Oklahoma City University in 1977, and her Ph. D. in Business Administration from Texas A&M University in 1981. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Professional Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Business Horizons, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Small Business Management, Human Systems Management, and elsewhere.     

基于企业营销生态化伦理的竞争优势构建

市场经济也是一种道德伦理经济。在生态文明时代,一个企业开展营销时,如果能主动加强生态伦理建设,实现生态资源与环境约束的内涵式突破,在公众面前树立良好的生态伦理形象,那么他将极大地增强自身在市场中的竞争力。为此,根据生态的脆弱性、生态政策约束性趋紧、消费者生态消费意识渐浓、生态产品与生态技术价值凸显的时代趋势,本文结合前人的论述,利用层次分析法,构建了一个基于企业营销生态化伦理,涵盖5个一级指标、21个二级指标、34个三级指标、5个四级指标的竞争优势指标体系,为企业加强生态伦理建设、提升竞争优势提供了一个清晰的努力方向。     

When Ethical Transgressions of Customers Have Beneficial Long-Term Effects in Retailing: An Empirical Investigation

The conventional wisdom, grounded in deontological ethics, is that retailers should extinguish unethical customer behavior. However, there exists an opposing teleological view that unethical behavior may be tolerated if its ultimate consequences are beneficial for all stakeholders. This is supported by a survey of retail managers conducted by the authors that revealed over 80% of the respondents are inclined to tolerate unethical customers whose actions have beneficial effects. The primary goal of this research is to investigate the boundaries of this teleological perspective, that is, whether ethical transgressions that appear to have negative short-term consequences for the retailer and other ethical customers can have beneficial longer-term consequences for all parties. We examine this question empirically with a longitudinal dataset, covering seventy weeks and over 48,000 accounts, from a popular Swiss online retailer. We focus on increased revenues and customer engagement as the benefit for the retailer. Our results show that customers registering multiple accounts in violation of the retailer’s policy comprise fewer than 11.5% of accounts, yet generate more than 27.6% of the retailer’s revenue. Specifically, their behavior leads to higher retailer revenues and greater engagement by other customers in the long-run. We discuss the implications of this insight for retailing managers as well as scholars.     

Situating the wildlife spectacle: ecofeminism,representation, and polar bear tourism

This paper presents a critical investigation of power relations circulating in promotional materials associated with polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Drawing on precepts of ecofeminism, critical discourse analysis, and the content of cultural texts (websites, souvenirs) produced by tourism operators, businesses, and crown corporations, the study interprets how representations of polar bears re-inscribe regimes of truth that marginalize non-human animal others and are complicit with patriarchal ideologies. Focus in our analysis is placed first, on illustrating the portrayal of “performing spectacle bears” – a socially constructed subjectivity designed to serve the desires of wildlife tourism producers and consumers – and, second, on diagnosing the privileged discourses that work to maintain and normalize this construction, along with the interspecies dynamics they support. In effect, the paper sheds light on the complex and recurrent effects of anthropocentric and instrumentalist orientations in tourism, including their contingency upon masculine systems of value and rationality. The paper also points out the potential of ecofeminist ethics of care for enhancing interspecies relationships in sustainable tourism.     

Proximity and animal welfare in the context of tourist interactions with habituated dolphins

The long-term sustainability of wildlife tourism depends on integrating visitor demands with resource management, requiring an understanding of tourist motivation. Managing the conflict between access to the animals and welfare, however, may diminish the experience for tourists. This paper identifies trade-offs tourists are willing to make between access and animal welfare, associated with feeding habituated bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Monkey Mia, Western Australia. Using a choice modelling technique, we were able to determine monetary values of visitor experiences. Compared to the current guaranteed interaction with dolphins (and a daily resort entrance fee), respondents were willing to pay significantly higher hypothetical entrance fees to avoid a decrease in proximity to, or probability of, the dolphin interaction. However, negative impacts on dolphin welfare had a negative impact on visitor utility. Over 80% of visitors (n = 244) accepted management regulations resulting in decreased time with and proximity to dolphins, if those addressed welfare concerns and were communicated clearly. Thus, while visitors placed the greatest value on the proximity and predictability, they were willing to trade off these aspects if they improved dolphin welfare. We provide management suggestions based on these results.     

Sustainable travel writing? Exploring the ethical dilemmas of twenty-first-century travel writers

There is a paucity of academic literature on travel writing that examines travel writers and their perceived influence on sustainability. This article addresses this lacuna by exploring how travel writers understand their responsibilities and reflects on ethics in their profession, particularly in how foreign destinations and cultures are portrayed. This is significant because some travel writers have been accused of contributing to what interviewees called the “Lonely Planet Syndrome”, the notion that writing about a place will introduce and encourage mass tourism, changing the original state of the place for the worse. In this qualitative, phenomenological study, data were collected from 23 in-depth interviews with twenty-first-century travel writers and analysed using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Findings suggest that while some interviewees expressed anxiety about their perceived accountability to mediate foreign cultures responsibly, others embraced their role as a cultural mediator. They cared about local cultures and wanted to write in responsible ways by supporting more sustainable outcomes, reflected in the themes of cross-cultural understanding, socio-cultural and environmental advocacy and promoting benefits of tourism to communities. Future studies could include exploring the role of travel editors, travel writers’ professional knowledge and the growing role of travel blogs.     

消费者伦理信念及关系质量对消费者非伦理行为的影响

本文运用典型相关分析法对中国消费者的伦理问题进行探讨,提出并检验了关系质量在消费者伦理信念与消费者非伦理行为决策中的调节作用。文章指出,鉴于信念与行为在很多场合下的非一致性,在以后的消费者伦理研究中,努力开发类似关系质量的调节或中介变量是有意义的。     

传统自然资源利用伦理与可持续发展

自然资源利用伦理与可持续发展密切相关。传统文化中的自然资源利用伦理主张人类要仁爱自然万物,在利用自然资源时,必须遵循用物有节、取物有时等原则,保持人口与自然资源的平衡。这些对当今社会可持续发展战略的实施有一定的借鉴意义。     

The economist’s oath: a review Essay

George DeMartino’s 2011 monograph, The Economist’s Oath: On the Need for and Content of Professional Economic Ethics, provides an excellent basis for the development of a discourse on the ethics of economists. This review focuses on the way in which mainstream economists’ arguments against consideration of ethics follow from their presentation of economics as a purely technical subject, and the implication that this pretense itself is unethical. The complexity of ethical issues within a pluralist approach to economics is explored, ranging from the institutional environment within which economists practice to epistemological questions.