Abstract
A national sample of 362 respondents assessed the ethical predisposition of the American marketplace by calculating a consumer ethics index. The results indicate that the population is quite intolerant of perceived ethical abuses. The situations where consumers are ambivalent tend to be those where the seller suffers little or no economic harm from the consumer's action. Younger, more educated, and higher income consumers appear more accepting of these transgressions. The results provided the basis for developing a four-group taxonomy of consumers which retailers should find insightful in assessing potential consumer actions in a variety of situations.
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Sam Fullerton is a professor of marketing at Eastern Michigan University. In addition to his academic career, he has worked as a product manager and is the Vice President of the Sports Research Institute, Ltd. Besides coauthoring a text on marketing research, his work has appeared in numerous journals; among them are Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Health Marketing Quarterly, and Strategic Management Journal.
Kathleen B. Kerch participated in an international marketing seminar series in Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong. She is currently employed as a marketing representative for Audio-Video Distributors in Wixom, MI.
H. Robert Dodge is a professor and head of the Department of Marketing and Law at Eastern Michigan University. He has published books in the areas of personal selling, marketing research, and business-to-business marketing. Additionally, his work has appeared in a number of journals including Strategic Management Journal, The Journal of Small Business, and Current Issues and Research in Advertising. He is actively involved in consulting including his position as President of the Sports Research Institute, Ltd.
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Fullerton, S., Kerch, K.B. & Dodge, H.R. Consumer ethics: An assessment of individual behavior in the market place. J Bus Ethics 15, 805–814 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00381744
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00381744