How important are ethics and social responsibility? ‐ A multinational study of marketing professionals

TLDR

Global expansion of marketing firms heightens ethical challenges, and cross‑cultural differences in how marketing professionals view ethics and social responsibility drive divergent behaviors. The study examines how perceptions of ethics and social responsibility differ among marketing professionals in Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. These differences are attributed to country‑level cultural, economic, and legal/political contexts, the organization’s ethical climate, and marketer demographics such as gender and age.

Abstract

States that in the present era of global marketing, as more companies enter international markets, ethical problems are likely to increase. As companies and their managers deal with their counterparts in different countries, there is a need to understand the latter’s ethical decision‐making processes. Divergence in ethical behavior and attitudes of marketing professionals across cultures can be explained by, among other variables, differences in perceptions regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. This study investigates the variation in those perceptions among marketing professionals from Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, and the USA. The variation is explained by country differences (cultural differences, differences in the economic environment, and differences in legal/political environment), organizational ethical climate, and selected demographic characteristics of the marketer (gender and age).