Column 17 · Stakeholders and Sustainability · Era 3, Competitive Advantage (1980s)
Marketing Ethics
Implementation, process · Landmark · Cluster VI, Context
Description
Hunt and Vitell's general theory models ethical decision making in marketing as the interaction of deontological and teleological evaluations that form ethical judgments, intentions, and behavior under cultural, industry, and organizational influences.
Managerial Implications
Ethical decisions in marketing follow from how managers perceive the situation, the alternatives they consider, and the norms and consequences they weigh. Organizations shape all three through codes, examples, and rewards. Build ethics into decision processes, such as pricing, data use, and claims, as a step rather than a review, and make it safe to raise concerns before launch, not after a complaint.