| Abstract: | This article explores the ethics of migrant marketers in Guangzhou. Data were collected from 357 migrant marketers who lived
in Guangzhou. A model of Ethical Action has been developed to test the antecedents and outcomes of the ethical decision-making
process. It measured moral intention using four ethical scenarios. The results show that the egoistic schema had a positive
effect on their intention to act unethically, while the legislative schema exerted a negative effect. The results confirm
that moral intention was a strong predictor of an individual’s subsequent actual behavior, and it fully mediated the influence
of the legislative schema on actual behavior. This study adds to ethics literature by incorporating the construct of social
identity and found a moderating effect between the legislative schema and moral intention. The relationships were stronger
for individuals who were lower rather than higher in social identity. Analysis of these results lead to a discussion of the
implications for marketing ethics in China. |
