MORAL INTENSITY AND ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING OF MARKETING PROFESSIONALS

Ethical decisions are often situational or issue-related. This study r epresents an initial attempt to investigate the impact of the intensit y of a moral issue on two important components of marketing ethics dec isions: perceptions of an ethical problem and intentions. The aspects of moral intensity investigated are the magnitude of consequences, soc ial consensus, the probability of effect, temproal immediacy, proximit y, and the concentration of effect. The research hypotheses regarding the influences of each of these aspects of moral intensity on the mark eters' ethical perceptions and intentions were formulated and tested. It was hypothesized that the influences of the different aspects of mo ral intensity on a marketer's is ethical perceptions and intentions wo uld be positive. Four marketing ethics scenarios were utilized as situ ations for measuring moral intensity, ethical perceptions, and ethical intentions. This study utilized a mail survey of 453 U.S. members of the American Marketing Association. The findings, based on regression analyses, support nearly all of the hypotheses relating the six aspect s of moral intensity to ethical perceptions and intentions of marketer s. Generally consistent with previous ethical theories, a marketer's d ecision-making process appears to be influenced by situation-specific issues such as the moral intensity of the situation.