Abstract
This study investigates the reactions of 561 MBA students to ethical marketing dilemmas. An analysis is conducted across time to determine how MBA students' attitudes about ethical marketing issues have been changing over the course of the 1980s. The findings show some support for the notion that MBA students in the late 1980s are somewhat less likely to use moral idealism when resolving an ethical dilemma and more likely to justify the decision in terms of its outcomes as compared with their counterparts at the start of the decade.
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George M. Zinkhan is Associate Professor of Marketing and the Conn Faculty Fellow at the University of Houston, which he joined in 1981. He has published over 50 articles in the areas of advertising, promotion, and knowledge development. Besides teaching at the University of Michigan, he has also been on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Business.
Michael Bisesi is an Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration. Prior to joining the University of Houston, he worked in the Florida university system. Dr. Bisesi is a member of the Business and Public Issues group in the College, and has particular interest in business-government relations, corporate political activity, regulation, and ethics. He also writes and researches in the areas of university-industry relations and business, education, and public policy. His work has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Sloan Management Review, Planning and Changing, and the British Journal of Educational Studies.
Mary Jane Saxton is an Assistant Professor of Management. She is co-editor of Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture, and co-author of the diagnostic instrument “The Kilmann-Saxton Culture-Gap Survey” which has been used extensively in private and public organizations to diagnose organizational culture. Saxton's research activities focus on organizational culture, organizational design and development, and individual reaction and adaptation to organizational change. She has lectured in graduate, associate and executive training programs. Her publications appear in such journals as the California Management Review.
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Zinkhan, G.M., Bisesi, M. & Saxton, M.J. MBAs' changing attitudes toward marketing dilemmas: 1981–1987. J Bus Ethics 8, 963–974 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383433
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00383433