A cross‐cultural study of consumer perceptions about marketing ethics

Abstract

Given the ever‐increasing globalization of economies, growing numbers of marketing firms are expecting more of their profits to be derived from international sales. Global competition is ferocious; thus, developing long‐term partner relationships often becomes a significant competitive advantage. Corporate ethics are of pivotal importance in global business, though globalization also complicates ethical questions, because an individual’s culture affects his/her ethical decision making. Failures to account for the effects of differences in consumers’ culturally‐based ethical values will hinder a marketer’s efforts to expand internationally. Compares consumers from Malaysia and the USA in terms of their perceptions of marketing ethics situations, their attitudes toward business and salespeople, and their personal moral philosophies. The survey results reveal some significant differences between the consumers from these two countries.