Ethics and marketing on this Internet: Practitioners' perceptions of societal, industry and company concerns

The astonishing growth of the Internet coupled with its unique capabilities has captured the attention of the marketing community. Although many busin esses are acknowledging the importance of a Web site, to date, little atten tion has been given to the business community's perceptions of the ethicali ty of this new medium. A national sample of marketing executives was survey ed regarding their perceptions of: (1) regulation of the Internet, (2) the potential ethical issues via Internet marketing facing their industry, and (3) the role of ethics and Internet marketing in their organization. Result s and recommendations for incorporating Internet ethical guidelines into or ganizations are discussed.