Gender Differences in Ethics Judgment of Marketing Professionals in the United States

Abstract

This empirical investigation reexamines the impact of gender on ethics judgment of marketing professionals in a cross-section of firms in the United States. In the study, gender differences in ethics judgment focus on decisions in the context of marketing-mix elements (product, promotion, pricing, and distribution). The results of statistical analyses indicate that men and women marketing professionals differ significantly in their ethics judgment. Overall, female marketing professionals evinced significantly higher ethics judgment than their male counterparts. Given the changing demographics of corporate America, it is conceivable that ethical decision-making in organizations stands to improve as the ratio of women in executive positions increases. The finding also bodes well with the recent emphasis of moving away from transaction-based in favor of relationship-focused conceptualization of marketing.

Appendix

Each of the following is an activity or behavior that poses an ethical or moral problem. For each, please indicate the extent to which you consider it to be ethical/unethical by circling the number on the scale.

	Very						Very
	Unethical						Ethical
I. Purchasing Decisions
1. A purchasing manager accepting gifts like free meals, entertainment, sales promotion prizes, and purchase volume incentive bonuses from a supplier	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2. A purchasing manager offering preferential treatment to a vendor who is a good supplier	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
3. A purchasing manager exaggerating the seriousness of a problem to a vendor in order to get a better deal or concession from that vendor	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
4. A purchasing manager giving a vendor special treatment because he is recommended by higher management	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
5. A purchasing manager allowing his like or dislike of a sales representative’s personality to influence his vendor selection decisions	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
II. Product/Service Decisions
1. A company copying a competitor’s successful product/ service	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2. A company subverting the test marketing of a competitor’s new brand of product/service	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
3. A company failing to make available to consumers replacement parts for a discontinued product/service	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
4. A company using planned obsolescence to enhance product/service purchases	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
5. A company failing to use environmentally-friendly packaging materials even though it is technologically feasible to do so	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
6. A company abandoning or eliminating a useful product/ service based solely on profit considerations	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
III. Promotion Decisions
1. An advertising agency executive billing a client for more money than it costs to undertake a project	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2. An advertising agency executive deliberately understating the cost of a project in order to get approval to go ahead but billing the client for a substantially higher amount once the job is completed	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
3. An advertising agency executive pirating ideas, information, and employees from competing firms	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
4. An advertising agency executive accepting gifts, favors, lunches, and entertainment from media representatives	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
5. A company advertising its product in the most favorable light when it is really inferior to competition	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
6. A company promoting products that are unhealthy and harmful to society	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
7. A company making misleading and exaggerated claims about its products	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8. A company using provocatively clad models to promote its products	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
IV. Pricing Decisions
1. A company lowering the quality of its product/service without lowering the price	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2. A company offering its smaller accounts less favorable pricing terms	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
3. A group of retailers/service suppliers controlling the price of a product/service through price fixing	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
4. A retailer/service supplier using lower quality product/ service for "end-of-the-month" sales	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
5. A retailer/service supplier using multiple pricing deals to make it appear that a given product/service is on sale, when it is not really the case	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
6. A company selling the same type and quality of product/ service at different prices to key accounts and other customers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
7. A company raising prices to satisfy corporate need for higher profits while ignoring customer concerns	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8. A company charging higher prices than competing firms with similar products/services while claiming superiority	1	2	3	4	5	6	7