Moral Philosophies, Ethical Perceptions and Marketing Education: A Multi-Country Analysis

Abstract

This study compares business students from India, New Zealand and the United States regarding their perceptions of the ethical problems, perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility and their personal moral philosophies. Using three marketing ethics scenarios, the results of the study show that business students from the U.S. and New Zealand tend to perceive ethical problems to be more serious than do their Indian counterparts. There were mixed results on personal moral philosophies, but measurement of perceptions about how important ethics and social responsibility are in achieving organizational effectiveness found significant differences between all three groups. We discuss the implications of these findings for international marketing and business ethics education.