Abstract
This paper focuses on deontological norms of professional marketers. The data were obtained from a mail survey of American Marketing Association members. The results generally indicate that deontological norms are a function of Machiavellianism and locus of control. That is, as hypothesized, those high in Machiavellianism and with an “external” locus of control tend to be “lower” in their deontological norms than their counterparts. This study, however, found no relationship between organizational culture and deontological norms. Nevertheless, to a certain degree, an organization, by means of its codes of ethical enforcement, can affect its employees’ deontological norms in a positive way. The results also indicate that business experience positively correlate with deontological norms and that there was no significant relationship between gender and deontological norms.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
American Marketing Association. 1986. “New Draft of Proposed American Marketing Association Code of Ethics.”Marketing News (December 5): 6.
Beauchamp, Tom L., and Norman E. Bowie. 1979.Ethical Theory and Business. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Chonko, Lawrence B. 1982. “Are Purchasing Agents Machiavellian?”Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 18 (Winter): 15–20.
Chonko, Lawrence B., and Shelby D. Hunt. 1985. “Ethics and Marketing Management: An Empirical Examination.”Journal of Business Research 13: 339–359.
Christie, Richard, and Florence L. Geis. 1970.Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press.
Christie, Richard, and others. 1968. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Social Psychology, Columbia University.
Dubinsky, Alan J. 1985. “Studying Field Salespeople’s Ethical Problems: An Approach for Designing Company Policies.” InMarketing Ethics: Guidelines for Managers Gene R. Laczniak and Patrick E. Murphy. Eds. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company.
Dubinsky, Alan J., E. N. Berkowitz, and W. Rudelius. 1980. “Ethical Problems of Field Sales Personnel.”MSU Business Topics 28 (Summer): 11–16.
Ferrell, O.C., and Larry G. Gresham. 1985. “A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing.”Journal of Marketing 49 (Summer): 87–96.
Ferrell, O.C., Larry G. Gresham, and John Fraedrich. 1989. “A Synthesis of Ethical Decision Models for Marketing.”,Journal of Macromarketing 11 (Fall): 55–64.
Fritzsche, David J. 1988. “An Examination of Marketing Ethics: Role of the Decision Maker, Consequences of the Decision, Management Position, and Sex of the Respondent.”Journal of Macromarketing 10 (Fall): 29–39.
Hegarty, W. Harvey, and Henry P. Sims, Jr. 1978. “Some Determinants of Unethical Decision Behavior: An Experiment.”Journal of Applied Psychology 63(4): 451–457.
Hegarty, W. Harvey, and Henry P. Sims, Jr. 1979. “Organizational Philosophy, Policies, and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment.”Journal of Applied Psychology 64(3): 331–338.
Hunt, Shelby D., and Lawrence B. Chonko. 1984. “Marketing and Machiavellianism.”Journal of Marketing 48 (Summer): 30–42.
Hunt, Shelby D., and Scott Vitell. 1986. “A General Theory of Marketing Ethics.”Journal of Macromarketing 8 (Spring): 5–16.
Hunt, Shelby D., Lawrence B. Chonko, and James B. Wilcox. 1984. “Ethical Problems of Marketing Researchers.”Journal of Marketing Research 21 (August): 309–324.
Kohlberg, Lawrence. 1981.The Meaning and Measurement of Moral Development. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.
Miller, Arthur G., and Henry L. Minton. 1969. “Machiavellianism, Internal-External Control, and the Violation of Experimental Instructions.”The Psychological Record 19: 369–380.
Minton, Henry L. 1967. “Power as A Personality Construct.” InProgress in Experimental Personality Research, Vol. 4, B.A. Maher. Ed. New York: Academic Press.
Murphy, Patrick E., and Gene R. Laczniak. 1981. “Marketing Ethics: A Review with Implications for Managers, Educators and Researchers.” InReview of Marketing 1981. Ben M. Enis and Kenneth J. Roering. Eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
Peter, J. Paul. 1979. “Reliability: A Review of Psychometric Basics and Recent Marketing Practices.”Journal of Marketing Research 16 (February): 6–17.
Robinson, John P., and Phillip R. Shaver. 1973.Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Rosenberg, Richard D. 1987. “Managerial Morality and Behavior: The Questionable Payments Issue.”Journal of Business Ethics 6 (January): 23–36.
Rotter, Julian B. 1954.Social Learning and Clinical Psychology. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Rotter, Julian B. 1966. “Generalized Expectancies for Internal Verus External Control of Reinforcement,”Psychological Monographs 80 (1, Whole No. 609).
Rudelius, W., and R.A. Bucholz. 1979. “Ethical Problems of Purchasing Manager.”Harvard Business Review 57 (March–April): 8–17.
Sathe, Vijay. 1985.Culture and Related Corporate Realities. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
Trevino, Linda K. 1986. “Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model.”Academy of Management Review 11(3): 601–617.
Weaver, K. Mark, and O.C. Ferrell. 1977. “The Impact of Corporate Policy on Reported Ethical Beliefs and Behavior of Marketing Practitioners.” InContemporary Marketing Thought, B.A. Greenberg and D.N. Bellenger, Eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association Proceedings.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S.J. Research note: Selected factors influencing marketers’ deontological norms. JAMS 19, 37–42 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723422
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723422