Consumer ethics: a cross‐cultural investigation

Abstract

In recent years, business ethics has drawn increased interest from business and marketing practitioners as well as from academicians. Despite the repeated call in the literature for cross‐cultural research in this age of globalization, virtually no studies have examined the ethical beliefs and ideologies of foreign consumers and compared them to those of US consumers. Investigates the ethical beliefs, preferred ethical ideology and degree of Machiavellianism of US versus Egyptian consumers. Concludes that while US consumers appear generally less likely to accept various questionable consumer practices than Egyptian consumers, they are more likely to reject moral absolutes.