Microfoundations of Ethical Marketing Decision Making

Effective marketing decision-making calls for a distinct organizational capability in order to apprehend the multiple links between the value creation process and strategic marketing decisions that are carried out at micro and macro levels. When thinking and designing a value proposition, marketing organizations are brought to pay close attention to the pivotal role of managers who are expected to identify and exploit different sources of value and participate in ethical marketing decision making processes. Marketing decisions cannot be dissociated from the firm’s core values and competences. As such they are likely to influence stakeholders’ choices and collective actions. In this paper, we focus on the microfoundations of ethical marketing decision making by providing evidence from decision making and cooperative schemes that result from macro and microenvironment imperatives and challenges. A particular emphasis has been placed on the theory of social exchange (Blau 1964; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995; Tynan 1997) and ethical governance as well as the pivotal role of stakeholders in carrying out strategic marketing missions under economic, social and environmental constraints.