Abstract
Business and especially marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their perceptions of ethical consumer practices. In addition, few studies have examined the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers even though they are an important and rapidly growing segment. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical ideology and ethical beliefs for elderly consumers. The results indicate that elderly consumers, while generally being more ethical than younger consumers, are diverse in their eithical beliefs.
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Dr Scott J. Vitell is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Macromarketing, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of The Academy of Marketing Science, Research in Marketing, various national and regional proceedings, and elsewhere.
Dr James R. Lumpkin is the Gene Brauns Professor of Marketing at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He has been published in such journals as the American Journal of Small Business, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, The Gerontologist, Psychological Reports, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and other scholarly journals.
Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. His publications have appeared in Medical Marketing and Media and national proceedings.
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Vitell, S.J., Lumpkin, J.R. & Rawwas, M.Y.A. Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers. J Bus Ethics 10, 365–375 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383238
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383238