Personal and Professional Values
Underlying the Ethical Judgments of Marketers
ABSTRACT. This study explores the relative influences of
two levels of value orientations, personal values and profes-
sional values, underlying the ethical judgments of marketing
practitioners. The data were obtained from a mail survey of
the American Marketing Association's professional mem-
bers. The results generally indicate that a marketer's ethical
judgments can be partially explained by his/her personal and
professional values.
A decade ago. Murphy and Laczniak (1981) reviewed
the scholarly work in marketing ethics and con-
cluded that the area was lacking in its theoretical
dimension. To a large degree, it is accurate to con-
clude that their criticism has stimulated positive
work in marketing ethics. For example, there has
been much recent interest in theory construction in
marketing ethics (e.g., Ferrell and Gresham, 1985;
Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Ferrell et al, 1989). These
models are potentially useful because, if accurately
constructed, they can serve as a frame of logic to
help us better understand how marketers make
Anusom Singhapakdi is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Old
Dominion University. His papers focusing on various topics in
marketing ethics and corporate/consumer social responsibility
have been published in the Journal of the Academy of Mar-
keting Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of
Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, as
well as otherjournals and proceedings.
Scott f. Vitell is Associate Professor and holder of the Michael S.
Stames Lectureship in Marketing and Business Ethics at the
University of Mississippi. His work has appeared in the Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Busi-
ness Ethics, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Per-
sonal Selling & Sales Management, and Research in
Marketing as well as various otherjoumals and proceedings.
Journal of Business Ethics 12: 5 2 5 - 5 3 3 , 1993.
© 1993 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Anusorn Singhapakdi
Scott J. Vitell
decisions in situations having ethical content. The
next logical step after theory construction is theory
testing. Examples of the empirical work to test the
emerging marketing ethics models are by Mayo
and Marks (1990), Reidenback and Robin (1990),
Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990, 1991), and Vitell and
Hunt (1990). Since a complete testing ofa compre-
hensive theory is difficult, only partial tests of
theories were attempted by these researchers.
The purpose of this study is to provide an addi-
tional partial test of some theoretical work in mar-
keting ethics. Specifically, this study examines the
relative influences of personal values and profes-
sional values on the ethical judgments of marketers.
The proposition that these two value orientations
influence the ethical decision making of marketers
is well grounded in the marketing ethics theories.
In the next section, some of these theories will be
briefly reviewed. Since our focus is on the impact
of personal and professional values, the review will
center on these variables. It should be noted that
only the models by Ferrell and Gresham (1985) and
Hunt and Vitell (1986) will be reviewed. Since the
marketing ethics model by Ferrell et al. (1989) is,
essentially, the combination of the Ferrell-Gresham
and Hunt-Vitell models, it will not be separately
discussed.
Theoretical foundation
A descriptive model of marketing ethics has been
proposed by Ferrell and Gresham (1985). Although
Ferrell and Gresham (1985) did not explicitly specify
any variables vwthin the "individual decision making"
framework, they recognize that such a process does
exit within what they termed "individual factor." As
they stated (p. 88),
526 A. Singhapakdi and S. J. Vitell
It is impossible to develop a framework of ethical decision
making without evaluating normative ethical standards
derived from moral philosophy. Based on the emphasis of
normative approaches in the literature, it is assumed that
marketers develop guidelines and rules for ethical behav-
ior based on moral philosophy.
In their model, the background factors of marketing
ethics are categorized into three major groups:
individual factors, organizational factors, and social/
cultural environment. Particularly relevant to this
study, Ferrell and Gresham include value structure as
part of "individual factors" influencing the ethical/
unethical decision process. As described in their
theory, "Individual factors (including knowledge,
values, attitude, and intentions) are posited as inter-
acting with organizational factors (including signifi-
cant others and opportunity factors) to influence
individuals involved in an ethical/unethical decision-
making dilemma" (p. 88).
Another descriptive model of marketing ethics has
been proposed by Hunt and Vitell (1986) to represent
the decision-making process in marketing situations
that the individual perceives as having ethical content
or ethical problems. Hunt and Vitell depict four
different categories of background factors for the
decision making process: (l) cultural environment, (2)
industry environment, (3) organizational environ-
ment, and (4) personal experiences. Consistent with
most moral philosophers (e.g., Beauchamp and
Bowie, 1979; Murphy and Laczniak, 1981), Hunt and
Vitell portray the marketing ethics decision-making
process as consisting of both a deontological evalua-
tion and a teleological evaluation. As they explained,
"deontological theories focus on the specific actions
or behaviors of an individual, whereas teleological
theories focus on the consequences of the actions or
behaviors" (p. 6).
Of particular interest to this study. Hunt and
Vitell describe deontological evaluation as the pro-
cess where the marketer makes ethical judgments or
evaluates the inherent tightness or wrongness of an
evoked set of alternatives that he/she views as
possible courses of action for a given situation
having ethical content. As they theorized, this eval-
uation process involves comparing possible behav-
iors with a set of predetermined "deontological
norms." Hunt and Vitell conceptualize deontological
norms as predetermined guidelines representing
personal values or rules of behavior. Following their
explanation, deontological norms can range from
very general (e.g., beliefs about honesty, stealing, and
cheating) to very specific (e.g., beliefs about deceptive
advertising, product safety, and sales "kick-backs").
Consistent with their position and that of Ferrell and
Gresham (1985), in this study it is assumed that the
ethical judgments of a marketer are a function of
his/her personal values and professional values. In
particular, the following research hypotheses were
formulated:
H,: The ethical judgments ofa marketer can be
partially explained by his/her professional
values.
H2: The ethical judgments of a marketer can be
partially explained by his/her personal values.
Methodology
Sample
A self-administered questionnaire was used to col-
lect data for this study. An American Marketing
Association (AMA) mailing list of U.S. practitioner
members with primary areas of interest in marketing
management and sales management was selected as
the sampling frame. A total of 2 000 target respond-
ents were sampled from a list of 14 739 members. Of
the 1 997 delivered, 492 persons responded for a
response rate of 24.6%. The response rate is com-
parable to those of previous marketing ethics studies
that have also used AMA mailing lists as sampling
frames. For example, in their survey of AMA practi-
tioners. Hunt and Chonko (1984) and Hunt et al.
(1984) obtained a response rate of 25.1%. Using an
AMA maihng list, Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990,
1991) report a response rate of 26.5% in a recent
survey.
Slightly more than half (51.8%) ofthe respondents
are women. A large portion of respondents (41.1%) are
between 30 and 39 years old. Regarding their
educational backgrounds, 94.6% of the respondents
have at least an undergraduate degree. The majority
of respondents (62.8%) reporting their annual income
at $40 000 or higher. The respondents represent
various industties with notable groups from con-
sulting, manufacturing or construction, and services
 Personal and Professional Values and Ethical Judgments 527

industries. With respect to their current job titles, TABLE I

29.7% of respondents are either marketing vice Profile of sample
presidents or marketing managers. More than half of
Factors Percentage
the respondents (55.7%) reported to have at least 10
years of business experience. A more detailed profile
of the respondents has been summarized in Table I. Sex
Male 48.2%
Female 51.8%

Age*
Conceptualization and operationalization
Under 30 28.5%
30 to 39 41.1%
Personal values. Probably the most widely accepted 21.1%
40 to 49
conceptualization of value is by Rokeach (1973, p. 5) 50 to 59 6.0%
who gave this definition: 60 and over 3.3%

an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end- Education*

state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an Some college 5.4%
opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of Bachelor's degree 29.9%
existence. Graduate Study 64.7%

Annual compensation
According to Rokeach, the concept of value, by its Under $30 000 18.5%
nature, is considered to be "enduring." That is, value $30 000-39 999 18.7%
is stable enough to make possible a continuity of $40 000-49 999 19.5%
human personality and society but, at the same time, $50 000-59 999 12.7%
unstable enough to allow for individual and social $60 000-69 999 10.0%
change. Therefore, perhaps the value structure of an $70 000-79 999 5.5%
inSividual could serve as the temporally stable $80 000-89 999 2.8%
predictor of his/her marketing ethics decisions across $90 000 and up 12.3%
situations. Race
Value can also be considered as a kind of "belief" Caucasian 97.1%
That is, as Rokeach explained, values are "prescriptive Black 1.3%
or proscriptive beliefs, wherein some means or end of Hispanic 0.8%
action is judged to be desirable or undesirable" (p. 7). Asian or pacific 0.6%
Other 0.2%
Thus, values could serve as guidelines for ethical
decision-making. According to Rokeach (1973), there Religious
are two broad categories of values: instrumental values No affiliation 13.8%
representing "mode of conduct" and terminal values Catholic 34.2%
Jewish 10.2%
representing "desirable end-state of existence." Inter-
Protestant 35.2%
estingly, in a sense, the instrumental/terminal values
Baptist 0.4%
categorization system of Rokeach is parallel to the
Other 6.2%
deontological/teleological categorization of moral
philosophies discussed earlier. Industry
Wholesale or retail 8.9%
Although Rokeach's (1973) conceptualization of
Manufacturer or construction 17.8%
values is the standard in values research, his method
Services 15.8%
of measurement has not been as well received. For 11.6%
Healthcare
example, as reviewed by Homer and Kahle (1988, p. Communications 9.5%
639), the criticisms "include information loss because Advertising 5.8%
of rank orderings, impossibility of ties, difficulty of Consulting 19.1%
the lengthy ranking task, and questionable relevance Other 4.4%
of all the values to daily life." A more parsimonious Non-profit or government 7.1%
nine-item "List of Values" (LOV) has been developed
 528 A. Singhapakdi and S. J. Vitell

Table I (Continued) honesty and fairness, rights and duties of parties in

the marketing exchange process, and organizational
Factors Percentage relationships (see Appendix B).
A six-point scale with responses ranging from
Current job title
"strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" was used.
Sales executive 6.4%
Sales or account manager
Given the nature of the statements, one would
6.6%
Marketing V.P. or manager expect a high degree of "end loading" as respondents
29.7%
CEO or president or owner 12.5%
would tend to strongly agree with the statements
Director or promotions manager 4.1% from the code of ethics. Therefore, a six-point scale
Head of marketing research 19.9% with more "agree" categories (i.e., "unbalanced" scale)
Product or brand manager 7.1% was used.
Other marketing 5.0% To ensure the highest quality measures possible, it
Management 8.7% is generally recommended that the theoretical com-
Years of business experience* position first be purified by means of factor analyses
Less than 5 17.8% (e.g., Churchill, 1979, Nunnally, 1978). Therefore,
5 to 9 26.5% since the professional values scale is a composite
10 to 14 25.5% scale, factor analysis was conducted. Principal com-
Over 14 30.2% ponents technique was judged appropriate because
this study is interested in the minimum number of
These variables were measured at the continuous level factors (preferred single best factor) to account for
and have been categorized here. maximum amount of variance represented in the
original set of items for each dimension. Based on
the analysis, a single factor explaining 44.6% of the
by Kahle (1983) as an alternarive to overcome the variance with all factor loadings above 0.50 level was
limitations of Rokeach's method. The results of generated. This indicates that all nine professional
empirical tests of the LOV scale have generally been values items form a single general factor. Therefore,
favorable (e.g., Beatty et ai, 1985; Kahle, et al, 1986). no items were eliminated from the original set.
Therefore, the LOV scale was used to measure Since the professional values scale (as operation-
personal values in this study. Like the marketing alized) is composite in nature, the Cronbach's coeffi-
study by Weeks et al. (1989) that also used LOV, it is cient alpha has also been computed. The coefficient
the desire of this study to obtain a scale that approxi- alpha for the cale is 0.84. The result is judged well
mates a ratio scale in its characteristics. Therefore, the beyond adequate for this early stage of theoretical
instruction developed by Weeks et al. (1989) was research (Peter, 1979). The professional values score
adopted in this study. The "List of Values" along with was computed by totalling the scores of all nine
the instruction used are given in Appendix A. items. Accordingly, a high professional values score
indicates that the marketer has a high level of
Professional values. For this study, professional values professional standard and vice versa.
will be defmed as the values relating to one's profes-
sional conduct that are commonly shared by the Ethical judgments. Alexander and Becker (1978) have
members of a particular profession. The construct found the use of scenarios ("vignettes") to be a good
was measured by asking the respondents to rate a set solution to improve the quality of data from ques-
of nine items selected from the code of ethics of the tionnaires. As they explained (p. 103): "The use of
American Marketing Association (AMA). Since the vignettes helps to standardize the social stimulus
respondents for this study are AMA members, the across respondents and at the same time makes the
operationalization was judged appropriate. decision-making situation more real." Moreover, the
In an attempt to have a good representation of the use of scenarios is considered by Hunt and Vitell
AMA's code of ethics, the professional values items (1986, p. 11) to be suitable for research in marketing
were selected from various sections of the AMA's ethics. Scenarios are commonly used as part of
code, including, responsibilities of the marketer. research instruments in marketing ethics studies
 Personal and Professional Values and Ethical Judgments 529

(e.g., Laczniak et al, 1981; Chonko and Hunt, 1985; TABLE II

Singhapakdi and Vitell, 1990). Regression analysis results
For the present study, a scenario technique was
utilized for the measurement of ethical judgments. A. Ethical judgment 1 as dependent variable
In particular, three marketing ethics scenarios devel-
oped by Dornoff and Tankersley (1975) were adopted R2-0.085 F-- 4.077 Significant F < 0.01
(see Apendix C). Ethical judgments were measured
by asking each respondent to express his/her agree-
Variables Beta T P
ment or disagreement vnth the actions depicted in
each of the three scenarios. A Likert type format
ranging from a score of 1 (for "strongly disagree") to Professional values -0.250 -5.23 0.000
a score of 7 (for "strongly agree") was used. Excitement 0.034 0.55 0.586
According to Dornoff and Tankersley's (1975) Warm relationships
study, the majority of consumers overwhelmingly with others 0.028 0.50 0.618
"disagreed" (71% or more) with the actions depicted Being well respected -0.115 -1.92 0.056
in each ofthe scenarios used in this study. Therefore,
Security 0.035 0.60 0.546
we can assume that these actions were considered
unacceptable and, perhaps, "unethical" by consumers. Sense of belonging 0.022 0.34 0.731
Thus, in accordance with the consumers' viewpoint, Fun & enjoyment
for this study, it is assumed that agreeing with those in life -0.090 -1.46 0.144
actions means that one's ethical judgments are more Self-fulfillment -0.047 -0.91 0.362
unethical and vice versa. A sense of
accomplishment 0.140 2.56 0.011
Self-respect -0.011 -0.20 0.840
Results

Hypotheses H, and Hj were simultaneously tested

B. Ethical judgment 2 as dependent variable
by means of three multiple-regression models (i.e.,
one for each of the three scenatios). In particular,
since the dependent vatiable of both hypotheses is il^-0.084 F-- 4.060 Significant F < 0.01
the same (i.e., ethical judgments), all independent
vatiables, professional values (a composite variable) Variables Beta T P
and the nine personal values items were included in
the same linear regression model. Professional values -0.197 -4.14 0.000
The regression models for ethical judgments 1 to Excitement 0.126 2.05 0.041
3 are summarized in Table Ila to lie respectively. As
Warm relationships
can be noticed firom the tables, the regression coeffi-
with others -0.064 -1.13 0.261
cients for professional values are significant for all
three ethical judgments examined. Therefore, hy- Being well respected 0.006 0.10 0.919
pothesis H, is supported. The results indicate that Security -0.013 -0.22 0.823
the ethical judgments of a marketer can be partially Sense of belonging -0.045 -0.71 0.481
explained by his/her professional values. Recall that
Fun & enjoyment
all three actions included in the scenarios are con- 0.509
in life -0.041 -0.66
sidered "unethical" (according to consumers). The
Self-fulfillment 0.006 0.12 0.906
negative signs of all coefficients for professional
values suggest that a marketer who has a high A sense of
standard of professional ethics vwU tend to disagree accomplishment -0.072 -1.32 0.189
with the "unethical" actions described in the sce- Self-respect -0.090 -1.74 0.083
narios and vice versa.
530 A. Singhapakdi and S.J. Vitell

Table II (Continued) tically significant in each instance. Perhaps, we can

conclude that tentatively "self-respect"/"being well
C. Ethical judgment 3 as dependent variable respected" is positively related to more "ethical"
behavior. Clearly, however, this needs to be exam-
J12-0.075 F - 3.559
ined in future research.
Significant F < 0.01
A "sense of accomplishment" was only significant
for the first scenario which is a sales situation. Those
Variables Beta T P
with a strong sense of accomplishment were more
likely to agree with the "unethical" action portrayed
Professional values -0.220 -4.586 0.000 in the scenario than those with a weaker "sense-of-
Excitement 0.010 0.168 0.866 accomplishment" value. Perhaps, there is a belief that
Warm relationships a strong sense of accomphshment is anathema to
with others 0.001 0.014 0.989 ethical behavior in sales situations, but not so for
Being well respected 0.024 0.395 0.693
some marketing situations. Further research is
needed to explore this interpretation of the data.
Security 0.064 1.121 0.263
"Excitement" was significant for the second sce-
Sense of belonging -0.036 -0.557 0.578 nario, in a positive direction, indicating that those
Fun & enjoyment who valued the pleasures of life are less "ethical."
in life -0.019 -0.310 0.757 While the relationship between excitement and
Self-fulfillment -0.059 -1.135 0.257 ethical judgment was not significant for the other
A sense of two scenarios, the direction was the same. These
accomplishment 0.032 0.581 0.562
inconclusive results lead us to again recommend
further research to determine whether or not the
Self-respect -0.110 -2.099 0.036
"excitement" individual is less "ethical."
Finally, the other values tested did not signifi-
cantly affect ethical judgments in any of the three
The hypothesis H2 is partially supported. The scenarios. Specifically, these values were security, a
analysis results indicate that ethical judgments of a warm relationship with others, self-fulfillment, a
marketer are related to various dimensions of his/her sense of belonging, and fun and enjoyment in life.
personal values system. Using a 0.10 level of signifi-
cance, "self-respect" was a significant predictor of
ethical judgments for two ofthe scenarios. Since this Discussion
is an exploratory study and we wanted to examine
any potentially significant relationships, a 0.10 level Certain limitations of this study may weaken the
of significance was chosen. The negative direction of generalizability of the results. One limitation con-
this relationship indicates that those who have a high cerns the representativeness of the sample used in
degree of self-respect are more "ethical" in terms of the the study. Recall that the sampling frame of this
their ethical judgments. This is consistent with study is the mailing list of practitioner members of
Piner's (1983) depiction of those high in self-respect the American Marketing Association (AMA). Since
as he concludes that "these individuals can ptide this study is an investigation of certain aspects of the
themselves.on feehng that they are morally sound decision-making process of marketers and the AMA
people" (p. 262). is the largest marketing professionals' association, the
In the one scenario where self-respect was not mailing list was judged the best available samphng
significant, "being well-respected" was significant. frame. Nevertheless, one can argue that AMA mem-
While this value is not the equivalent to having self- bers are not "typical" marketers. For example, as
respect, the two are certainly related as the correla- Hunt and Chonko (1984, p. 39) pointed out, "people
tion of 0.34 between them would indicate. Thus, as who join the Ametican Marketing Association are
there appears to be overlap in what these values are more likely to view marketing as a profession than
measuring, it is not surprising that only one is statis- 'just a job'." In particular, for our findings, since the
 Personal and Professional Values and Ethical fudgments
professional values construct was operationalized by
means of the AMA code of ethics, its effect will
probably be more for AMA-member marketers.
The fact that tbe coefficients of determination
[R^ values) for tbe regression models used in tbe
bypotbeses tests are relatively low is anotber possible
limitation of tbis study. Tbe low R ^ values basically
mean tbat only a small proportion of tbe variation in
tbe dependent variables of tbis study are explained
by tbe personal and professional values. Altbougb
larger R ^ values would be desirable, we believe tbat
tbe low amount of variation explained sbould be
expected because personal and professional values
are only a small part of tbe many tbeoretical pre-
dictors of etbical decision making of marketers (e.g.,
Ferrell and Gresbam, 1985; Hunt and Vitell, 1986;
Ferrellefa/., 1989).
Tbe importance of value systems as a factor in
marketing etbics decisions bas been recognized by
Hunt and Vitell (1992) in tbeir retrospective and
revision of tbeir general tbeory of marketing etbics.
Moreover, tbey call for researcbers to explore tbe
impact of many different values on etbical decision
making. Tbis study is an attempt to explore tbe
relationsbip between selected values and certain
aspects of tbe marketers' decision making processes
in etbical situations. Based on our researcb, we can
generally conclude tbat two categories of values,
professional values and certain personal values, are
determinants of a marketer's etbical judgments as
tbeorized in various tbeories of marketing etbics
(e.g., Ferrell and Gresbam, 1985; Hunt and Vitell,
1986). Tbat is, according to tbe survey results, tbe
professional values of marketers do influence tbeir
etbical judgments in a positive way. In addition, tbe
results reveal some linkages between personal values
and a marketer's etbical judgments. Specifically, self-
respect and being well respected were positively
linked to etbical beliefs wbile a sense of accomplisb-
ment was negatively linked to etbical judgments.
However, it appears tbat tbe relative influences of
professional values on tbe marketers' etbical judg-
ments of various etbical situations tested is relatively
stronger tban tbe personal values. A case can be
made tbat personal values structure of an individual
is too far removed from tbe etbical situations opera-
tionalized as compared to professional values to bave
as mucb impact.
Tbe implications of tbe finding tbat professional
531
values appear to be a more critical factor in market-
ing etbical judgments is tbat individual firms and tbe
profession, in general, must establisb professional
norms/codes to guide tbe conduct of its members.
Tbis may be especially true since some personal
values sucb as a strong "sense of accomplisbment"
and a need for "excitement" may be in conflict witb
etbical decisions. If tbis is tbe case, tben clear and
specific etbical codes for tbe marketing profession
and for individual firms will be crucial as a guideline
for situations wben personal values migbt obtrude
on one's professional evaluations.
Most personal values did not seem to influence
etbical judgments directly, but tbis may be because
tbey infiuence etbical judgments indirectly by first
impacting on professional values. Tberefore firms,
perbaps, sbould look for prospective employees tbat
bave tbose personal values tbat are most closely
associated witb professional values — for example,
employees wbo consider self-respect and being well
respected as important personal values. It may be
tbat tbese are tbe employees wbo are most likely to
adopt and accept a firm's and profession's etbical
values and standards. However, wbere tbis is not
feasible, a clear and specific code tbat is closely
adbered to is strongly recommended.
Acknowledgement
Tbis study was supported by an American Marketing
Association's Faculty Advisor Researcb Grant.
Appendix A
List ofvalues (LOV)
Instruction: Here is a list of tbings people look for or
want out of life. For eacb of tbe follovwng select tbe
one tbat is most important in your life. It is possible
tbat you may bave two tbings tbat are tbe most
important. Write tbe value of 100 to tbe rigbt of tbe
item or items. Next, one at a time, compare tbe
remaining items to tbe most important one(s) and
write in a value less tban 100. Tbis vwll refiect tbe
item's importance to you compared to tbe most
important one(s).
532 A. Singhapakdi and S. J. Vitell
Excitement:
Warm relationsbips witb otbers:.
Being well respected:
Security:
Sense of belonging:
Fun and enjoyment in life:
Self-fulfillment:
A sense of accomplisbment:.
Self-respect:
Source: Kable(l983)
Appendix B
Professional values
PVl: Tbe marketer's professional conduct must be
guided by tbe adberence to all applicable laws
and regulations.
PV2: Being bonest in serving consumers, clients,
employees, suppliers, distributors and tbe
public.
PV3: Participants in tbe marketing excbange pro-
cess sbould be able to expect tbat products
and services offered are safe and fit for tbeir
intended uses.
PV4: Participants in tbe marketing excbange pro-
cess sbould be able to expect tbat communica-
tions about offered products and services are
not deceptive.
PV5: All parties intend to discbarge tbeir obliga-
tions, financial and otberwise, in good faitb.
PV6: Rejection of bigb pressure manipulations, or
misleading sales tactics.
PV7: Not manipulating tbe availability of a product
for purpose of exploitation.
PV8: Meet obligations and responsibilities in con-
tracts and mutual agreements in a timely
manner.
PV9: Avoid manipulation to take advantage of
situations to maximize personal welfare in a
way tbat unfairly deprives or damages tbe
organization or otbers.
Appendix C
Scenarios used to measure ethicaljudgments
Ethical judgment 1. A young man, recently bired as a
salesman for a local retail store, bas been working
very bard to favorably impress bis boss witb bis
selling ability. At times, tbis young man, anxious for
an order, bas been a little over-eager. To get tbe
order, be exaggerates tbe value of tbe item or witb-
bolds relevant information concerning tbe product
be is trying to sell. No fraud or deceit is intended by
bis actions, be is simply over-eager.
Action: His boss, tbe owner of tbe retail store, is
aware of tbis salesman's actions, but be bas done
notbing to stop sucb practice.
Ethical judgment 2. A retail grocery cbain operates
several stores tbrougbout tbe local area including
one in tbe city's gbetto area. Independent studies
bave sbown tbat prices do tend to be bigber and
tbere is less of a selection of products in tbis
particular store tban in tbe otber locations.
Action: On tbe day welfare cbecks are received in tbe
area of tbe city, tbe retailer increases prices on all of
bis merchandise.
Ethical judgment 3. Sets of a well-known brand of
"good" cbina dinnerware are advertised on sale at a
considerable discount by a local retailer. Several
patterns of a typical 45-piece service for eigbt are
listed. Tbe customer may also buy any "odd" pieces
wbicb are available in stock (for instance, a butter
disb, a gravy bowl, etc.). Tbe ad does not indicate,
bowever, tbat tbese patterns bave been discontinued
by tbe manufacturer.
Action:T\ic retailer offers tbis information only if tbe
customer directly asks if tbe mercbandise is discon-
tinued.
Source: Dornoff and Tankersley (1975)
 Personal and Professional Values and Ethical Judgments 533

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