How Important Are Ethics and Social Responsibility?

The interrogation recital for this journal is available at http//www. mcbup. com/ seek_registers The new issue and full text history of this journal is available at http//www. emerald-library. com/ft How substantial be moral philosophy and loving right? A multinational field of operations of trade schoolmasters Anusorn Singhapakdi and Kiran Karande College of credit line and Public Administration, long periodd Dominion University, Virginia, the States How alpha ar morality? 133Received September 1998 rewrite March 1999 June 1999 September 1999 College of Administrative Sciences, capital of Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait, and School of preserve Administration, University of Mississippi, regular army Keywords contradictory trade, Ethics, Social province, National glosss, Consumer behaviour hook States that in the present era of human beings(a) trade, as much companies enter supranational markets, respectable problems ar probable to increase.As c ompanies and their man progressrs deal with their counterparts in antithetical countries, at that place is a need to regard the latters respectable ending-making processes. Divergence in honorable manner and attitudes of merchandising professionals crosswise cultures put forward be relieveed by, among sepa compute variables, disagreeences in perceptual experiences regarding the splendor of moral philosophy and fond certificate of indebtedness in achieving organisational cartfulness. This select investigates the adaptation in those detections among selling professionals from Australia, Malaysia, s break throughhwestern Africa, and the regular army.The disagreement is explained by kingdom differences ( ethnic differences, differences in the economicalal environs, and differences in sound/ policy-making environment), presidencyal honorable temper, and selected demographic char representeristics of the marketer ( sex activity and maturate). C. P. Rao Scott J. Vitell Introduction The discipline of moral philosophy has become increasingly beta with orbicu new-fangled art expansion, because of an increase in honest and companionable debt instrument come tos that short letteres face in antithetical art little(prenominal) environments.There represents, however, a wide distinction in the take of brilliance get hold ofed to these cardinal issues in different countries (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 1998). More over, vast differences exist from sylvan to unpolished in the economic growth, pagan standards, legitimate/political systems, and expectations regarding seam doings (Wotruba, 1997). In addition, at that place is great divergence in the enforcement of policies (Mittelstaedt and Mittelstaedt, 1997). The authors would like to thank Mohd.Rashid Ahmed, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Malaysia Nicola Higgs-Kleyn, University of the Witwatersrand, southward Africa and Muris Cicic, University of Wollongong, NSW, Au stralia for their assistance in the data compendium for this moot. The authors would too like to thank Janet Marta for her comments on the earlier versions of the manuscript. European journal of merchandise, Vol. 35 no. 1/2, 2001, pp. 133-152. MCB University Press, 0309-0566 European diary of trade 35,1/2 134In the vexation value-systemal motive literature, grievous variations among marketers/ man erars from different nations ar documented in m whatever observational studies on respective(a) types of honest issues (e. g. Arm noniceable et al. , 1990 Graham, 1985 Becker and Fritzsche, 1987). discrepancy in honest motive across cultures was demonstrate in a cross-national hire of industrial gross revenue mint by Dubinsky et al. (1991) where some signifi put forwardt differences in respectable perceptions were fix among selling man termrs from Japan, Korea, and the regular army. A schooling by Singhapakdi et al. 1994) in like manner revealed that Amer i clear and Thai marketers differ on variant components of their honest stopping point-making process. However, solid ground-wide look intoers wee-wee non investigated differences in the conclusion to which marketers from different countries suppose that moral philosophy and br oppositely province be principal(prenominal) for organisational effectualness. An mortals perception closely whether morals and complaisant province cook up to organisational authorisation is presumable to be a critical antecedent of whether he/she eventide out covers an honorable problem in a prone situation (Singhapakdi et al. 1995). This is a pragmatic charm establish on an argument that managers must commencement distinguish moral philosophy and thoroughly-disposed right to be zippy to withstandmental speciality sooner their miens go awaying become to a greater finish honourable and reflect greater complaisant certificate of indebtedness. This visual sen se is consistent with pass and Vitells (1986) depiction of respectable judgment as including a teleological evaluation, when an idiosyncratic evaluates alternative actions by weighing the comprehend hazard and desirability of consequences.Essentiall(a)(a)y, a managers choice of behavior in a situation that has problematic respectable message will be base on his/her perception of the likelihood that the actions will baffle around a desired outcome. This view is in addition consistent with Jones (1991) issue-contingent model where it is postulated that the chance of effect which is defined as the probability that the act in question will genuinely take place and the act in question will actually cause the harm (benefit) (Jones, 1991, p. 75) will ingrain an individuals honourable close making. Intuitively, morals and brotherly state should have a constructive come to on the success of an physical composition, because consumers flip honourable judgments that be plausibly to crop their purchases. As Laczniak and Murphy (1993, p. 5) put it Consumers over time will normally distinguish the organizations that attempt to be responsive to various good and companionable factors in the marketplace.Accordingly, it is vital for marketers to integrated respectable and cordial considerations in their sound. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate whether marketers from Australia, Malaysia, reciprocal ohm Africa, and the the States differ in the terminus to which they see that honorable and genially trusty practices be important in likeness to various aspects of organisational effectiveness much(prenominal)(prenominal) as caliber, discourse, remuneration, militantness, pick, dexterity, and stakeholder gratification.Based on knightly literature that emphasizes hea past factors, corporate culture, and individual distinctions (e. g. flow and Vitell, 1986 Ferrell and Gresham, 1985), the cross-ethnical variation in market ers sensed splendour of moral philosophy and affable business in achieving organisational effectiveness is explained by country differences (including pagan differences and differences in the economic environment), organizational honorable climate, and selected demographic characteristics of individual marketers.The tetrad countries include were judged usurp because they ar geographically separated and process differences in wrong of Hofstedes (1980) five pagan attributes and the take aim of economic knowledge, which argon impart to support the hypothesis rough country differences. a priori foundation and hypotheses In this discrepancy it is proposed that the variations in the perceive wideness of moral philosophy and well-disposed responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness is explained by country differences (including ethnic differences and differences in the economic environment), organizational respectable climate, and indi vidual characteristics of gender and age. Figure 1 summarizes the proposed example. Country differences Cultural differences. Hofstede (1980) and Hofstede and Bond (1988) proposed a typology for classifying cultures based on five dimensions (1) individuation (2) changeable(p)ty avoidanceHow important be morals? 135 Figure 1. Theoretical simulation European diary of market 35,1/2 136 (3) office staff distance (4) masculinity and (5) Confucian dynamism. It is guessd that these cultural dimensions contri to a greater accomplishment thanovere to differences in the comprehend splendor of ethical motive and favorable responsibility. For example, marketers in collectivist countries (such as Malaysia) would be judge to be to a greater end dissipated to their organizations because of greater dependence (Hofstede, 1983), and on that pointfrom, touch for their organizations world assistance when making decisions that provoke organizational effectiveness.Consequently , collectivistic cultures would bond much brilliance to achieving excellent organizational capital punishment than to ethics and brotherlyly responsibility. Masculine societies encourage individuals to be would-be(prenominal) and competitive, and to strive for material success (Hofstede, 1980), which whitethorn tempt marketers from countries ranking amply on masculinity to achieve greater efficiency, at all greets. Therefore, they would wed less brilliance to ethics and loving responsibility than to efficiency, competitiveness, and semipermanent survival.Individuals from cultures with high origin distance (such as Malaysia) usually accept the inequality of power, perceive differences surrounded by superiors and subordinates, be reluctant to differ with superiors and believe that superiors be entitled to privileges (Hofstede, 1983). Consequently, marketers from high power distance countries are likely to perceive a need to minimise differment with superiors a nd satisfy superiors through alter performance. In other words, organizational performance is likely to be proportionally more(prenominal)(prenominal) important to them sexual congress to the extent to which a decision is ethical and mixerly answerable.The risk- fetching orientation of marketers from low uncertainty avoiding countries would lead them to believe that it power be worth victorious the risk of unethical actions in wander to improve efficiency and competitiveness. Therefore, marketers from low uncertainty avoidance countries are likely to make up less greatness to ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. Individuals in countries ranking high on Confucian dynamism prevail to tie to the more future-oriented t for individually oneings of Confucius those from countries ranking low on Confucian dynamism tend to be more present- and other(prenominal)-oriented (Hofstede and Bond, 1988).From the perspective of this study, market ers from cultures ranking high on Confucian dynamism have a strong sense of shame and are likely to be wary of actions that are improper or disgraceful. Marketers from high Confucian dynamism countries (such as Hong Kong, chinaware, Japan, and Korea) would, in that respectfore, believe that both actions bringing disrepute and shame to the order would be bad to organizational performance. This is also consistent with the greater future-orientation of individuals from these countries.Alternatively, it is also achievable that marketers from high Confucian dynamism countries skill be sensitive to the shame arising out of inferior performance and exponent thitherfore believe that greater efficiency and profits are important at the cost of ethics and social responsibility. In other words, the effects of Confucian dynamism mightiness be anticipate in both anxietys. hedge I summarizes Hofstedes ranking of the quaternary countries on five dimensions of culture (Hofstede, 1980 H ofstede and Bond, 1988).It is plain that, in general, Australians, Ameri squirts, and south around Afri arouses are high on individualism and masculinity and dishonor on uncertainty avoidance and power distance than Malaysians. On Confucian dynamism, the USA and Australia rank very close. Although in that location is no ranking available for southernmost Africa and Malaysia, Malaysians posterior be expected to rank higher(prenominal) because of a strong Chinese lick, peculiarly in the seam sector (Hong Kong and Taiwan rank first and second on Confucian dynamism).Based on individualism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance, Malaysian marketers would be expected to have lower comprehend magnificence of ethics and social responsibility than marketers from Australia, southeast Africa, and the USA. Based on masculinity, it would be expected that Malaysian managers will have greater sensed vastness of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effe ctiveness than those from the other three countries, whereas based on Confucian dynamism it is only workable to hypothesize differences.Therefore, based on the cultural differences outlined above, we would expect Australian, Malaysian, US, and south African marketers to attach different levels of importance to ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. Economic environment differences. Countries also have different economic and line of descent environments, including the heavy environment and societal expectations close to air ethics in a given over country.In genuine countries (such as the USA and Australia), the business environment is typically characterized by powerful business enterprises, a reasoned environment aimed at eliciting ethical behaviors on the part of businesses, and societal expectations that businesses should be more ethical and socially liable. These environmental forces may make the marketers in developed countries atta ch greater importance to the ethical and social responsibilities of their respective businesses. In evolution countries, on the other hand (e. . Malaysia and southwestern Africa), the business and economic environmental forces are nonetheless evolving and hence the marketers sensed importance of business ethics and social responsibility may be lower relative to their counterparts in developed Country Australia Malaysia southeastward Africa USA Power distance Individualism 36 104 49 40 (41) (1) (36-37) (38) 90 26 65 91 (2) (36) (16) (1) Masculinity 61 50 63 62 (16) (25-26) (13-14) (15) perplexity avoidance 51 36 49 46 (37) (46) (39-40) (43) Confucian dynamism 31 (11-12) n/a n/a 29 (14)How important are ethics? 137 noe a Ranks wind from 1-53 for all dimensions except Confucian dynamism 1-20 bug Hofstede (1980) and Hofstede and Bond (1988) turn off I. S loads (and ranks) for the cardinal countries on Hofstedes dimensionsa European diary of trade 35,1/2 138 countries. From a nonher perspective, in developed countries the markets are likely to be more competitive, and at that placefore, issues of customer service and satisfaction might be relatively more important.Therefore, in making decisions, marketers from developed countries are less likely to take actions that are detrimental to the reputation of the fraternity, fearing regulation as headspring as consumer dissatisfaction. In the consideration of this study, marketers from the USA and Australia should place greater importance on ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness than marketers from southernmost Africa and Malaysia. Differences in effectual/political environment. In the Hunt and Vitell (1993) model, levelheaded/political environment is visualised as a variable influencing ethical decision making.The relationship amidst the lawful environment and ethics has been accepted by many business ethics scholars. For example, Beauchamp and Bowie (19 93, p. 4) celebrated that uprightness is the publics agency for translating morality into limpid social guidelines and practices and stipulating offenses. DeGeorge (1990, p. 14) storied that cable is a social enterprise. Its mandate and limits are set by society. The limits are a good deal moral, but they are also oft compose into law. Dunfee (1996, p. 18) stated that the legal system is sometimes required to nurture or follow up the moral preferences of society, particularly with reference to ecumenic moral prohibitions a assemblest physical harm. He also argued that where moral views have non converged toward a sufficiently broad consensus, the law may divine service to bring about a change in attitude. In the scene of our study, these discussions imply that the legal/political framework within a country can be expected to daze a managers perceptions about ethics and social responsibility. lineage ethics scholars have also say that the legal/political systems star t across countries (e. g. Vogel, 1992). In his analysis of the USA, Western Europe, and Japan, Vogel (1992) noted that in spite of globoseization, the norms of business (as salutary as business and academic interest) in ethics were substantially higher in the USA than in other ripe(p) capitalist countries. He attributed this to the distinctive institutional, legal, social, and cultural environment in the USA.In the context of this study, differences can be expected in the legal/political environments in the USA, Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa. bandage in the USA the legal/political systems are relatively well developed (and in Australia to a certain stagecoach), the restrictive environments in Malaysia and South Africa are evolving, and therefore, the existence as well as the specialisedity of laws may vary across the quaternion countries. The importance of ethics is also regularized by the degree of law enforcement, where we also can expect differences across the 4 countries.While elaborate legal/political systems defy for enforcement in the USA, they are relatively less prevalent (and to varying degrees) in Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa. Vogel (1992, p. 32) pointed out that even compared to other progress countries, the enforcement of law in the USA is more stringent, and gave the hobby example, In the States each new disclosure of business mess up prompts a new wave of public indignation, accompanied by numerous articles n the business and popular press which bewail the general decline in the ethical conduct of managers and seek to explain what went injure in the most late case. This is frequently followed by Congressional hearings featuring politicians demanding more sharp-eyed prosecution of white-collar criminals shortly thereafter, regulatory standards are tightened, penalties are increased, and enforcement efforts are strengthened. How important are ethics? 139It should be effd that the strength exercises of the lega l/political environment are more complex than discussed here, because of the range of issues involved as well as the aspects of environment that cannot be heartbeatd at one time, such as the enforcement of regulatory systems. However, differences exist amongst the quaternity countries in the legal/political environment, which can be expected to influence managers perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility relative to organizational effectiveness.In the preceding paragraphs, country differences were analyzed based on three aspects (1) culture (2) economic development and (3) legal/political environment. Overall, based on cultural differences, we expect Australian, Malaysian, US, and South African marketers to attach different levels of importance to ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. Based on economic environment differences, we expect that marketers from the USA and Australia will place greater importance on ethics and socia l responsibility than marketers from South Africa and Malaysia. given(p) that legal and political environments tend to vary amidst the cardinal countries, we also expect the managers from these 4 diverse countries to attach different levels of importance to ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. Thus, the following hypothesis was formulated H1 Due to differences in culture, economic development, and legal/political environment, there are differences in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility among marketers in Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, and the USA.In analyzing country differences, it is transparent that multiple aspects of country differences influence marketers perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility, at times in conflicting ship canal (as in the effects of masculinity and individualism). Also, since this is the first attempt at investigating crosscultural variation in the perceived importance o f ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness, there is a lack of noesis regarding the relative importance of differences in cultural European ledger of selling 35,1/2 140 dimensions.Consequently, it is not possible to hypothesize the direction of differences, only their existence. Organizational ethical climate In the Hunt and Vitell (1986 1993) models, organizational ethical climate is included as a minimise variable that affects a marketers ethical decision making. Organizational ethical climate refers to the shared understanding regarding what is chasten behavior and how ethical issues will be handled (DeConinck, 1992). It helps establish and maintain the standards that delineate the respectable things to do and the things worth doing (Jansen and Von Glinow, 1985).The ethical climate in an organization affects ethical attitudes and standards of individuals. An organization that seeks to foster an ethical environment will not only have a code of ethics, but also the willingness and perpetration to enforce it. Managers consider modifying the morality of their actions not just because of stated organizational concern, but only when specific sanctions are wedded for misconduct (e. g. Laczniak and Inderrieden, 1987). The field of studyion that organizational pressures, and not individual moral deficiencies, account for unethical standards is held by several authors (e. . Ford and Richardson, 1994). Weeks and Nantel (1992) found that wellcommunicated codes of ethics led to higher ethical standards and superior demarcation performance of salespeople in the USA. Consequently, marketers in companies with an ethical climate that encourages ethical and socially responsible behavior and that punishes unethical behavior would perceive ethics to be more important for organizational effectiveness. look has shown that when ethical standards of an organization are widely shared, organizational success will be enhanced (Hunt et al. 1989). Relevant to this study, in a recent study of US marketers, Singhapakdi et al. (1995) revealed that marketers in organizations with high levels of corporate ethical value tended to assign a higher level of importance to certain elements of corporate ethics and social responsibility. Therefore, we hypothesize that H2 irrespective of country, organizational ethical climate is cocksurely colligate to to managers perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility relative to different aspects of organizational effectiveness.Gender Gender is principally recognized as an important personal characteristic influencing an individuals ethical decisions. For example, Gilligan (1982) argued that men and women differ in their moral reasoning. In particular, men are more likely to adhere to the ethic of justice by accenting rules and individual rights. Women, however, are more likely to adhere to the ethic of care by emphasizing relationships and compassion. In a recent met a-analysis, Franke et al. (1997) employ data from more than 20,000 responsives in 66 exemplifications nd revealed that women are more likely than men to perceive business practices as unethical. Although there has been no research directly investigating the effects of gender on perceived important of ethics and social responsibility, it has been incorporated in numerous marketing ethics studies. Based on the work of Gilligan (1982) and Franke et al. (1997), it can be argued that the ethic of sympathize with exhibited by women would lead them to believe that taking actions in the interest of the customer would enhance company performance and would contribute to a perception of greater importance of ethics in organizational effectiveness.Thus, we would expect women to attach greater importance to ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness. H3 Irrespective of country, women perceive ethics and social responsibility to be more important relative to different aspects of organizational effectiveness than men. come on marketing ethics theories mostly recognize personal characteristics as determinants of various aspects of a marketers ethical decision-making process (e. g. Ferrell and Gresham, 1985 Hunt and Vitell, 1986).old age could also directly influence an individuals ethical decision. According to Kohlbergs (1981) cognitive moral development theory, an individuals cognition, emotion, and judgment may change as he/she moves through stages of moral development. apt(p) that an individual moves through stages of moral development and the changes are essentially due to intent experiences, intuitively one would expect a positive relationship among age and ethical behavior. In fact, Terpstra et al. (1993) have argued that people tend to become more ethical as they grow older.A good explanation is that as people age they tend to become less relate with wealth and advancement and more come to in personal growth (Hall, 197 6). In other words, older marketers are likely to appreciate the long-run benefits (to organizational performance) of performing in an ethical and socially responsible manner. Accordingly, we would generally expect a positive relationship between a marketers age and his or her perception about the importance of ethics and social responsibility.H4 Irrespective of country, a marketers age is positively related to his/her perception of the importance of ethics and social responsibility relative to different aspects of organizational effectiveness. methodological analysis Sample A self-administered questionnaire was utilize as the data collection technique for all tetrad groups of marketing practitioners. For the US and South African groups, national mailing lists of professional members of the American selling Association (AMA) and the South African Institute of Marketing How important are ethics? 141 European daybook of Marketing 35,1/2 142 counselling were used as sample distri bution frames.For the Australian sample, a mailing list of recipients of the Australian Marketing Institute magazine was used. For the Malaysian group, the sampling frame consisted of managers responsible for making marketing decisions for companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The questionnaire was administered in English for all four samples. Because Malaysia and South Africa are members of the British Commonwealth, English is a well-understood language, particularly in the business setting. The numbers of respondents were vitamin D from Australia, 446 from the USA, 256 from South Africa, and 159 from Malaysia1.The response rates were 22. 7 percent (USA), 13 percent (South Africa), and 45 percent (Malaysia). Since questionnaires were not directly mail to the sample in Australia, the response rate could not be assessed. The non-response twist for the USA and South African samples was assessed with an analysis of form between the early and late respondent groups ( Armstrong and Overton, 1977). There were no statistical differences among the two groups for either country2. The profiles of the respondents are summarized in mesa II.They represent a range of age groups, gender, job titles, industry, and years of experience, with minor differences between the four sets of respondents. Age and gender were included in the analyses. new(prenominal) variables (such as job title, bringing up, and industry) were not included as surmount variables because educational systems, industry classifications, and job titles and functions vary from country to country. Measures Singhapakdi et al. (1995) developed a measure for measuring managers perceptions about the importance of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR) in organizational effectiveness.Seven of the 14 items from that outmatch were used, relating to specific aspects of organizational effectiveness such as yield quality, efficiency, profitability, communication, long-term survival, competitive ness, and stakeholder satisfaction. Excluded items were statements such as Good ethics is good business and collective strategy should include ethics and social responsibility, which do not address specific aspects of organizational effectiveness. The casing of measurement items used in the analyses are shown in send back III. The factor structures were found to be quasi(prenominal) across the four countries and the reliabilities were generally high3.It may be noted that the PRESOR dental plate has previously performed satisfactorily in cost of reliability, as well as content and predictive validity (Singhapakdi et al. , 1995, 1996). Organizational ethical climate, gender and age. The corporate ethical determine (CEV) scurf developed by Hunt et al. (1989) was used in this study to measure organizational ethical climate. The scale was designed to reflect a composite of the individual ethical values of managers and both the buckram and informal policies on ethics of the orga nization (Hunt et al. , 1989). The five-item CEV scale4 was developed to three broad-based perceptionsCharacteristics of respondents Gender antheral Female Age group low 30 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 and over 50 Education High school or less Some college Bachelors degree Masters degree Doctorate early(a)a Job title chief operating officer/president/MD/director Marketing managers Others Industry USA Wholesale or retail Manufacturer or formula Services Communications Advertising or public relations Marketing consulting Other Malaysiab Consumer products Diversified Construction Trading operate Finance Properties Plantation Mining and primeval resources no.es sample a b Australia (%) Malaysia (%) South Africa (%) USA (%)How important are ethics? 73. 0 27. 0 20. 0 35. 0 29. 0 17. 0 11. 0 15. 0 58. 0 15. 0 1. 0 37. 0 52. 0 11. 0 84. 0 16. 0 11. 0 39. 0 40. 0 10. 0 6. 0 10. 0 43. 0 24. 0 1. 0 16. 0 39. 0 30. 0 31. 0 80. 0 20. 0 4. 0 29. 0 40. 0 27. 0 6. 0 15. 0 30. 0 30. 0 19. 0 2. 0 44. 0 37. 0 19. 0 51. 0 49. 0 17. 0 37. 0 29. 0 17. 0 1. 0 6. 0 43. 0 43. 0 6. 0 47. 0 43. 0 10. 0 143 3. 0 10. 0 20. 0 33. 0 7. 0 17. 0 6. 0 37. 0 4. 0 3. 0 28. 0 11. 0 13. 0 3. 0 1. 0 7. 0 20. 0 25. 0 7. 0 1. 0 5. 0 35. 0 12. 0 17. 0 35. 0 9. 0 7. 0 18. 0 2. 0 Other educational qualifications include professional education in the Malaysian This categorization of industries was take over in the Malaysian context Table II. Profiles of respondents in Australia, Malaysia, South Africa and USA revenue European diary of Marketing 35,1/2 Organizational effectiveness dimension Univariate auditions look while make quality is essential for corporate success, ethics and social responsibility are not NS Communication communication is more important to the overall effectiveness of an organization than whether or not it is concerned with ethics and social responsibility 5. 1 0. 0001 profit The most important concern for a tight is making profits, even if it m eans crook or jailbreak rules 5. 45 0. 0001 Competitiveness To remain competitive in a global environment, business firms will have to disregard ethics and social responsibility NS Survival If survival of a business enterprise is at stake, then you must forget about ethics and social responsibility 21. 25 0. 0001 aptitude Efficiency is much more important to the firm than whether or not the firm is seen as ethical or socially responsible 14. 1 0. 0001 Stakeholder satisfaction If stakeholders are unhappy, nothing else matters 11. 19 0. 0001 variable tests F based on Wilks lambda (21, 3,673 df) 5. 38 0. 0001 66. 43 28. 62 74. 24 49. 95 39. 79 29. 46 27. 17 0. 0001 0. 0001 0. 0001 0. 0001 0. 0001 0. 0001 0. 0001 Table III. variable and univariate results Country Organizational culture Gender Age 17. 88 0. 0001 3. 68 0. 0552 8. 97 0. 0028 6. 46 0. 0112 17. 63 0. 00001 NS NS 2. 56 NS 0. 0535 NS NS NS NS NS 1) the extent to which employees perceive their managers are playing ethica lly in their organization (item 1) (2) the extent to which employees perceive that managers are concerned about the issues of ethics in their organization (item 3) and (3) the extent to which employees perceive that ethical (unethical) behavior is rewarded (punished) in their organization (items 2, 4, and 5) (Hunt et al. , 1989). The CEV was measured victimization a nine-point Likert scale with 1= completely disagreeand 9= completely agree.For each respondent, the CEV soft touch was obtained by summing all CEV items (with items 1 and 2 reverse-coded). A high CEV score means that the manager works in an organization with higher corporate ethical values. The similarity of factor structures of the CEV scale between the four countries was assessed to be moderate and the reliabilities of the scale were high5. The CEV measure has been used in the past (e. g. Hunt et al. , 1989 Singhapakdi et al. , 1995). Gender was measured as a dichotomous variable and age was measured in four categorie s.Results Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed using the heptadsome PRESOR items as dependent variables, and the country of residence, organizational ethical climate, gender, and age as nonsymbiotic variables6. MANOVA results show that overall country of residence, organizational ethical climate, gender, and age world-shakingly explain differences between marketers from the four countries in their perception of the importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness (F = 5. 38 based on Wilks Lambda, p 0. 001). H1 states that there are country differences in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) identified significant cross-country differences between marketers on all PRESOR items except output quality and competitiveness. For example, there are differences in the extent to which marketers from the four countries belie ve that the most important concern for a firm is making profits, even if it means bending or breaking rules (F = 5. 45, p . 001). Also, there are differences in the extent to which they agree with statements such as if survival of a business enterprise is at stake, then you must forget about ethics and social responsibility (F = 21. 25, p 0. 0001), efficiency is much more important to the firm than whether or not the firm is seen as ethical or socially responsible (F = 14. 91, p . 0001), and communication is much more important to the overall effectiveness of an organization than whether or not it is concerned with ethics and social responsibility (F = 5. 1, p 0. 0001). Therefore, there is support for H1 (average scores for marketers from the four countries on each of the seven items are given in Table IV). How important are ethics? 145 European Journal of Marketing 35,1/2 146 H2 states that the organizational ethical climate positively influences managers perceived importance o f ethics and social responsibility. In fact, results channelize it has a strong influence on all seven dimensions of PRESOR with F statistics ranging from 27. 17 to 74. 24 (with all p 0. 0001). Therefore, H2 is supported.Results also indicate gender differences in managers perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness on the quality, communication, profits, competitiveness, and survival dimensions, but not on the efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction dimensions (F statistics ranging from 3. 68 to 17. 88). Therefore, H3 is generally supported. Also, results related to H4 indicate that, in general, there are no age differences in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness.Therefore, H4 is not supported. The lack of significance of age in influencing PRESOR is probably a reflection of the greater impact of environmental factors such as greater societal expectations and a wareness about ethical issues. Discussion and implications The current investigating into cross-country variation in perceptions of marketing professionals regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility as determinants of business success has voltage implications for global companies.In the planetary marketing context, cultural, economic, and other gaps between international buyers and sellers stimulate the potential for conflicts of values, which in turn draw a blank smooth business interactions between the parties. Whether a marketing organization engages in exporting, importing, formulate ventures, licensing agreements or fully owns an afield operation, the sphere exists for conflict of values, especially in the areas of marketing ethics and social responsibility. For example, in recent years, companies in the USA have go about public disapproval of the unethical practices of their abroad suppliers.As businesses all over the world progressively globalize their operations, it becomes necessary that they understand whether there are significant gaps between their ethical and social responsibility perceptions and their foreign partners. Such perceptual gaps need to be systematically investigated and measures taken to reduce or, preferably, reach them in the interest of establishing enduring international business Organizational effectiveness dimension Australia 7. 67 6. 16 6. 93 7. 56 7. 22 6. 44 6. 82 Malaysia 7. 61 5. 27 6. 61 7. 27 5. 76 5. 12 5. 79 South Africa 7. 96 6. 40 7. 01 7. 71 7. 05 6. 26 6. 6 USA 7. 82 6. 23 7. 46 7. 69 7. 64 6. 72 7. 08 Table IV. Output quality Mean perceived Communication importance of ethics Profits and social responsibility scores on Competitiveness different dimensions of Survival Efficiency organizational Stakeholder satisfaction effectiveness relationships. This study identified three sources of gaps that can exist between marketers from different countries in terms of the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness. They are (1) Country differences in culture, economic development, and legal/ political environment. 2) Differences in organizational ethical climate. (3) Gender differences. Similarities and differences were found between countries in terms of the extent to which they find ethics and social responsibility to be important relative to some dimensions of organizational effectiveness. On two dimensions, output quality and competitiveness, there were no significant inter-country differences. It seems that output quality and competitiveness are universal business orientations exhibited by marketing executives, which is consistent with globalization of markets and the accompanying intensification of competition. transnational companies, therefore, may start that their counterparts in different parts of the world will be as concerned with output quality and competitiveness (relative to ethical and social res ponsibility concerns). Hence, these two core business values can give up common bases for successful international negotiations and establishing long-term relationships, which are critical for success in the international business arena.While there are inter-country similarities on these two dimensions, significant inter-country differences were found with regard to other organizational effectiveness dimensions communications, efficiency, profits, survival, and stakeholder satisfaction. Based on the findings of our study, multi-national companies who enthral employees between these four countries can help them anticipate differences in perceptions about the importance of ethics and social responsibility relative to different aspects of organizational effectiveness.For example, Malaysian companies post-horse managers in Australia (or South Africa or the USA) might want to educate them about the environmental differences that lead to Australian managers placing greater importance o n ethics and social responsibility relative to profitability, efficiency, communication, survival, and stakeholder satisfaction. These perceptual differences can impact ethical attitudes and actions, and therefore, managerial expectations about overseas employees should be altered accordingly.Corporate managers should also give a thought to what can be done to overcome these differences in perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. The content of ethics training programs can incorporate the findings of this study by developing scenarios and cases highlighting the tradeoffs between ethics and social responsibility, and specific aspects of organizational effectiveness, such as efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. These scenarios can be elongate by including cross-national differences in How important are ethics? 47 European Journal of Marketing 35,1/2 148 culture, economic development, and legal/political environment, as well as differences in perceptions about eth ics and social responsibility across countries. Organizational ethical climate positively influenced the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility across all four countries. Irrespective of the country, organizational ethical climate had a strong influence on all seven dimensions of organizational effectiveness vis-a-vis ethics A and social responsibility.Therefore, we can intermit that organizations from different countries with similar organizational ethical climates can find common ground on issues of ethics and social responsibility. Hence, international companies, when scouting for suitable partners in foreign markets, may look for overseas partners with similar organizational ethical values. This would ensure sleek business relations and interactions especially in the areas of ethics and social responsibility.Also, it is useful for international marketers to know that, in general, women perceive ethics and social responsibility to be more important in achievin g organizational effectiveness than men, though there are no differences across age groups. This is particularly pertinent given the increase in vocation of women in the workplace. Limitations This study has some potential terminal points. One concerns the limited number of factors investigated in our study. ethical decision making is a very complex phenomenon, and exploring cross-cultural differences is even more difficult.For example, in addition to the variables we studied, marketing ethics theories have also undertake moral philosophies, personal values, religion, professional environment, and organizational and industrial characteristics as important scope factors underlying the ethical decision making of managers (e. g. Ferrell and Gresham, 1985 Hunt and Vitell, 1986). However, the scope of this study is limited to cultural dimensions, economic environment, organizational ethical climate, and selected demographic variables as explanatory factors.It should be pointed out that in this study, some important demographic variables, such as education, were not included because of a lack of conceptual equating, as explained in the next section. some other limitation concerns the samples analyzed in this study. Although four relatively diverse countries were studied, the findings can not be generalized to other countries with different cultural characteristics and levels of economic development. Future research avenues This research can be elongate in many ways. As a first step, a non-directional hypothesis for country differences was presented.This was necessitated by the fact that this was the first study dealing with the investigating of cross-cultural variation in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness. Future research should investigate the direction of expected differences. A comprehensive framework modeling antecedents and consequences of the perceived importance of ethics an d social responsibility can be developed and tried. This will add another(prenominal) dimension to our understanding of ethical decision making.As pointed out earlier, one limitation of this study concerns its limited samples and, consequently, its limited generalizability. Therefore, there is a need to replicate this study using managerial samples from other countries with different cultural characteristics and/or levels of economic development. Given the complexity of the phenomenon under study, future research should investigate other determinants specified in marketing ethics models, such as moral philosophies, personal values, religion, professional environment, and organizational and industrial characteristics.Among demographic variables, education could be an important determinant but was not included because of a lack of conceptual equivalence. In cross-cultural research, conceptual equivalence in terms of the meaning of research concepts, stimuli, and materials must first be ceremonious before any meaningful comparisons are made (Malhotra et al. , 1996). In our study, the US sample is predominantly business-educated, which might not be the case with the other three samples. In addition to differences in the educational telescope of the managers, the lack of conceptual equivalence can also be attributed to .The educational systems and curricula in the four countries being different. . Differences in the extent to which ethics is required to be accent in the curriculum content across different countries (for example, accredited business schools in the USA are required to incorporate business ethics into their curricula, and such requirements might exist to a greater or lesser degree in other countries). . Variation in the extent to which ethics is actually incorporated and emphasized in the curricula.Thus, it is not education per se, but the internalisation of ethics into educational curricula, the actual implementation, and its impact on the manag ers that is likely to influence their perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. In the future, the cross-country differences in educational background of the respondents as well as the extent to which ethics is emphasized in education should be measured, and analyzed as a potential factor influencing a managers perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility. finish To summarize, this research investigated whether marketers from Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, and the USA differ in their beliefs regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility as determinants of organizational effectiveness. The study was based on an alternative advance to studying perceptions about ethical issues and problems in business. Traditionally cross- How important are ethics? 149 European Journal of Marketing 35,1/2 150 cultural researchers have evaluated ethical perceptions, attitudes, and intentions with regard to specific business/marketing practices involving et hical problems.Here, we investigate differences in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in relation to various aspects of organizational effectiveness such as quality, communication, profits, competitiveness, survival, efficiency, and stakeholder satisfaction. The results of this study are important because perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility has been shown to influence ethical intention, when managers are faced with an ethical situation (Singhapakdi, 1999). Results indicate that differences in the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility among marketers from the four countries exist because of . ountry differences in culture, economic development, and legal/political environment . differences in organizational ethical climate and . gender differences. There are not any differences due to age. Overall similarities and differences among the four countries emerged on specific dimensions of business effectiveness. On the dime nsions of output quality and competitiveness, there were no differences among the four countries. Inter-country differences were found on the dimensions of communication, efficiency, profits, survival, and stakeholder satisfaction.These findings regarding cross-cultural similarities and differences are useful in furthering our understanding and concern of ethics and social responsibility in the international context. no.es 1. For subsequent analysis using LISREL, a sample size of 159 was judged adequate to(predicate) because it is close to the recommended level of ten observations for every parameter estimated (Haire et al. , 1998). 2. For the Australian and Malaysian sample, the non-response parti pris based on early and late respondents could not be assessed as this culture (i. e. dates when the questionnaires were received) was not recorded at the time of data collection. . The similarity of factor structures of the seven-item scale for individual countries was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. convulsion measures for individual countries, including chi-square per degree of freedom (range 1. 87-3. 32), GFI (0. 94-0. 97), AGFI (0. 890. 95), and CFI (range 0. 91-0. 96), for the four countries were high. The reliability of the seven-item scale ranged from 0. 73-0. 76 for the four countries. 4. The five items in the corporate ethical values scale were . Managers in my company often engage in behavior that I consider to be unethical. . In order to succeed in my company, if is often necessary to compromise ones ethics. Top worry in my company has let it be known in no uncertain terms that unethical behaviors will not be tolerated. If a manager in my company is observed to have engage in unethical behavior that results in personal gain (rather than corporate gain), he/she will be promptly reprimanded. . If a manager in my company is discovered to have engaged in unethical behavior that results in corporate gain (rather than personal gain), he/sh e will be promptly reprimanded. 5.The similarity of factor structures of the five-item CEV scale for individual countries was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. summate measures for individual countries, including chi-square per degree of freedom (range 2. 00-35. 23), GFI (0. 88-0. 99), AGFI (0. 63-0. 99), and CFI (range 0. 74-0. 99), for the four countries were moderate. 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