Content area
Full text
Scott J. Vitell: The Phil B. Hardin Professor of Marketing, School of Business Administration, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, USA
Anusorn Singhapakdi: Associate Professor of Marketing, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
James Thomas: Assistant Professor of Marketing, College of Commerce & Business Administration, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama, USA
Introduction
The marketing discipline has devoted considerable conceptual and empirical work to research on ethical issues (e.g. Ferrell and Gresham, 1985; Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Ferrell et al., 1989). This is probably because marketing, in general, and the buyer/seller dyad, in particular, is where many ethical problems in business arise (Baumhart, 1961; Brenner and Molander, 1977; Vitell and Festervand, 1987).
Macromarketing issue
Furthermore, as Nill and Shultz (1997) have pointed out, the study of marketing ethics is fundamentally a macromarketing issue. Indeed, the original Hunt and Vitell (1986) model, upon which the present study is based, was first published in the Journal of Macromarketing. As Nill and Shultz (1997) suggest, marketing ethics is one of "the most compelling macromarketing issues", and this is especially true where it concerns the firm's relationship with its customers.
Overall, a large body of literature is developing concerning ethics in the marketplace; however, much of this research has focused only on the seller side of the buyer/seller dyad. As Bagozzi (1995, p. 276) has observed, an "... aspect of relationship marketing in consumer markets that is in need of attention ... is moral behavior". Relatively few studies have examined ethical issues in the marketplace from the consumer's perspective. One notable exception is the "free riding" literature in economics which deals with individuals attempting to avoid any personal cost in the financing of public goods (i.e. Browning and Browning, 1994). Another exception may be the literature regarding environmental issues such as consumer recycling and disposal practices.
Major participants
Consumers are major participants in the business process and not considering them in ethics research may result in an incomplete understanding of that process. An understanding of why some consumers engage in unethical behavior may be helpful in ultimately curtailing such practices. As Bernstein (1985, p. 24) pointed out over a decade ago, consumers are "out-doing big business and the government at unethical behavior". Thus, there is a need to study the ethical...