ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN RETAIL SETTINGS - IS THERE A GENERATION GAP

A new generation, earmarked the Thirteeners, is an emerging force in t he marketplace. The Thirteener cohort group, so designated since they are the thirteenth generation to know the American nag and constitutio n, encompass over 62 million adult consumers. All the former ''Mall Ra ts'' have grown up. The normative structures that these Thirteeners em ploy in both acquisition and disposition retail settings is empiricall y assessed in this study through the use of a national sample. The fin dings suggest that Thirteeners are more likely to attempt to rationali ze away unethical retailing consumption behaviors than their parent's generation. The managerial and theoretical implications for the practi ce of retailing in the 1990s associated with these observations are di scussed.