MARKETING-RESEARCH INTERVIEWERS AND THEIR PERCEIVED NECESSITY OF MORAL COMPROMISE

Marketing research interviewers often feel that they must compromise t heir own moral principles while executing work-related activities. Thi s finding is based on analysis of data obtained from three focus group interviews and a mail survey of 173 telephone survey interviewers. Da ta from the mail survey were used to construct scales measuring interv iewers' perceived necessity of moral compromise, moral character, and job satisfaction. The three scales then were used in a hierarchical re gression analysis to predict incidences of interviewers' self-reported proscribed behaviors on the job, the latter being an index of behavio rs known by interviewers to be ''wrong.'' Results support all hypothes ized relationships.