Teaching marketing ethics: a preliminary study

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study which serves as a precursor to a more intensive study into developing ethics modules for undergraduate marketing courses. This initial effort is designed to advance the movement toward effectuating the inclusion of ethics in marketing courses. The authors use as a starting point the Hunt-Vitell general theory of marketing ethics. This paper then reviews the research on specific marketing ethics subjects and uses that data in semi-structured interviews conducted with experienced marketing professors from the USA, Canada and China. Some of the specific topics reviewed with the interviewees included ethical aspects of general marketing, advertising, sales force management and consumer relations. The results of this preliminary study provide practical groundwork for a larger study and further research into incorporating ethics into various marketing courses. This may provide a more complete marketing education experience for undergraduate marketing majors.