Perceived risk, moral philosophy and marketing ethics: mediating influences on sales managers' ethical decision-making

Abstract

This study extends previous research in ethical decision-making in marketing. Using Hunt and Vitell's [J Macromark 6 (1986) 5] model, perceived risk is operationalized as the result of insufficient time and information for decision-making where substantial magnitude and probability for loss is present. Results from a national study of sales managers indicate that risk perceptions affect the relative balance of nonconsequential and consequential evaluations in forming ethical judgments and intentions. For all subjects, nonconsequential evaluations contribute more to ethical judgments than consequential evaluations. However, structural analyses of the Hunt and Vitell model reveal that under higher risk, managers attach greater importance to nonconsequential evaluations than managers who felt less risk. Lower risk is related to greater use of consequential evaluations in the formation of ethical judgments and intentions. Finally, subjects in the high-risk treatment group exhibited significantly harsher ethical judgments and less intention to perform the ethically questionable behavior.