Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relativism in Ethical Research: A Proposed Model and Mode of Inquiry

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

While some of the great thinkers (Socrates, Kant) have argued for an absolutist view of ethical behavior, over the past 250 years the relativist view has become ascendant. Following the contingency framework of Ferrell and Gresham (1985) and the issue contingent model of Jones (1991), a model for ethical research is proposed. The key components include the moral agent/transgressor, the issue type and its intensity, and the nature of the victim. In addition, a statistical methodology, namely conjoint analysis, is introduced to investigate the trade-offs inherent in relativistic inquiry. In two ethical scenarios, in each of which three factors were varied, conjoint analysis provided important insight. The individual transgressor factor of “gender” had minimal impact on observer responses to two scenarios of questionable ethicality. In contrast, both the dollar magnitude of the transgression and the organizational status of the transgressor (salesperson/manager/owner) did affect observer responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akaah, I. P. and E. A. Riordan: 1989, ‘Judgements of Marketing Professional About Ethical Issues in Marketing Research: A Replication and Extension’, Journal of Marketing Research 26(1), 112–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavanaugh, G. F.: 1990, American Business Values (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabholkar, P. A. and J. J. Kellaris: 1992, ‘Toward Understanding Marketing Students' Ethical Judgements of Controversial Personal Selling Practices’, Journal of Business Research 24, 313–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. A., N. B. Johnson andD. G. Ohmer: 1998, ‘Issue-Contingent Effects on Ethical Decision Making: A Cross-Cultural Comparison’, Journal of Business Ethics 17(4), 373–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dornoff, R. J. and C. B. Tankersley: 1975–76, ‘Do Retailers Practice Social Responsibility?’, Journal of Retailing 51(4), 33–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubinski, A. J., E. M. Berkowitz andW. Rudelius: 1980, ‘Ethical Problems of Field Sales Personnel’, MSU Business Topics 28, 11–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubinski, A. J. and J. M. Gwin: 1981, ‘Business Ethics: Buyers and Sellers’, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management (Winter), 97–103.

  • Dubinski, A. J. and M. Levy: 1985, ‘Ethics in Retailing: Perceptions of Retail Salespeople’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 13(1), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. and V. Mladinic: 1989, ‘Gender Stereotypes and Attitudes toward Women and Men’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 15, 543–558.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A., M. Makhijani andB. Klonsky: 1992, ‘Gender and the Evaluation of Leaders: A Meta-Analysis’, Psychological Bulletin 111, 3–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell, O. C. and L. G. Gresham: 1985, ‘A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing’, Journal of Marketing 49(3), 87–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, D. R.: 1985, ‘Individual Differences in Information Integration During Moral Judgement’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49, 264–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritzsche, D. J. and H. Becker: 1983, ‘Ethical Behavior and Marketing Managers’, Journal of Business Ethics 2, 291–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritzsche, D. J.: 1988, ‘An Examination of Marketing Ethics: Role of the Decision Maker, Consequences of the Decision, Management Position and Sex of the Respondent’, Journal of Macromarketing 8, 29–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, C. S. and C. M. Crawford: 1974, ‘Young Executives: A Source of New Ethics?’, Personnel Journal (March), 180–187.

  • Goodwin, J. and D. Goodwin: 1999, ‘Ethical Judgements Across Cultures: A Comparison between Business Students from Malaysia and New Zealand’, Journal of Business Ethics 18(3), 267–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, P. E. and A. M. Kreiger: 1991, ‘Segmenting Markets with Conjoint Analysis’, Journal of Marketing 55 (October), 20–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, P. E. and V. Srinivasan: 1978, ‘Conjoint Analysis in Consumer Research: Issues and Outlook’, Journal of Consumer Research 5 (September), 103–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, P. E. and V. Srinivasan: 1990, ‘Conjoint Analysis in Marketing: New Developments with Implications for Research and Practice’, Journal of Marketing 54(4), 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, P. E. and Y. Wind: 1975, ‘New Way to Measure Consumers' Judgments’, Harvard Business Review 53 (July-August), 107–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., R. E. Anderson,R. L. Tatham andB. J. Grablowsky: 1998, Multivariate Data Analysis (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrington, S. J.: 1997, ‘A Test of a Person-Issue Contingent Model of Ethical Decision Making in Organizations’, Journal of Business Ethics 16(4), 363–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, D. I., G. Albaum andR. Best: 1974, ‘Stapel Scale or Semantic Differential in Marketing Research’, Journal of Marketing Research 11, 318–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, D. I. and A. B. Cocanougher: 1972, ‘Student Evaluations of the Ethics of Marketing Practices: The Role of Marketing Education’, Journal of Marketing 36 (April), 61–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hegarty W. H. and H P. Sims, Jr.: 1979, ‘Organizational Philosophy, Policies, and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment’, Journal of Applied Psychology 64(3), 331–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hume, D.: 1751, An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (London).

  • Hunt, S. D. and A. Z. Vasquez-Parraga: 1993, ‘Organizational Consequences, Marketing Ethics, and Salesforce Supervision’, Journal of Marketing Research 30, 78–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, S. D. and S. Vitell: 1986, ‘A General Theory of Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Macromarketing 6, 5–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izraeli, D.: 1988, ‘Ethical Beliefs and Behavior Among Managers: A Cross-Cultural Perspective’, Journal of Business Ethics 7, 263–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jalajas, D. S.: 1993, ‘Ethical Decision Making in College Students: A Test of Jones's Moral Intensity Concept’, Paper presented at the Eastern Academy of Management Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T. M.: 1991, ‘Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model’, Academy of Management Review 16, 366–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T. M. and V. L. Huber: 1992, ‘Issue Contingency in Ethical Decision Making’, International Association for Business and Society Proceedings, 156–166.

  • Kant, I.: 1785, Groundworks of the Metaphysic of Morals (Konigsberg).

  • Kidwell, J. M., R. E. Stevens andA. L. Bethke: 1987, ‘Differences in the Ethical Perceptions Between Male and Female Managers: Myth or Reality’, Journal of Business Ethics 6, 489–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L.: 1969, ‘Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization’, in D. A. Goslin (ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research (Rand McNally, Chicago), pp. 347–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L.: 1981, The Philosophy of Moral Development (Harper and Row, San Francisco).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kopp, R. J.: 1993, ‘Ethical Issues in Personal Selling and Sales Force Management’, in N. C. Smith andJ. A. Quelch (eds.), Ethics in Marketing (Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, Illinois), pp. 539–556.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurtines, M. W.: 1984, ‘Moral Behavior as Rule-Governed Behavior: A Psychosocial Role-Theoretical Approach to Moral Behavior and Development’, in W. M. Kurtines andJ. L. Gewirtz (eds.), Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development (Wiley, New York), pp. 303–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurtines, M. W. and J. L. Gewirtz: 1984, ‘Certainty and Morality: Objective versus Relativistic Approaches’, in W. M. Kurtines andJ. L. Gewirtz (eds.), Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development (Wiley, New York), pp. 3–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lickona, T.: 1976, ‘Critical Issues in the Study of Moral Development and Behavior’, in T. Lickona (eds.), Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research, and Social Issues (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Maher, K. J. and J. J. Bailey: 1999, ‘The Effects of Transgressor Sex on Judgements of Unethical Behavior’, Journal of Business Ethics 18(2), 157–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, B. and P. Dewe: 1997, ‘An Investigation of the Components of Moral Intensity’, Journal of Business Ethics 16(5), 521–530.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCuddy, M. K. and B. L. Peery: 1996, ‘Selected Individual Differences and Collegian's Ethical Beliefs’, Journal of Business Ethics 15(3), 261–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNichols, C. W. and T. W. Zimmerer: 1985, ‘Situational Ethics: An Empirical Study of Differentiators of Student Attitudes’, Journal of Business Ethics 4, 175–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milgram, S.: 1974, Obedience to Authority (Harper and Row, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, S. A. and R. A. McDonald: 1995, ‘The Role of Moral Intensity in Moral Judgements: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Business Ethics 14(9), 715–726.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy P. E. and G. R. Laczniak: 1981, ‘Marketing Ethics: A Review with Implications for Managers, Educators and Researchers’, Review of Marketing 1981 (American Marketing association, Chicago), pp. 251–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieva, V. and B. Gutek: 1980, ‘Sex Effects on Evaluation’, Academy of Management Review 5, 267–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. A.: 1971, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R.: 1984, ‘The Major Components of Morality’, in W. M. Kurtines andJ. L. Gerwitz (eds.), Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development (Wiley, New York), pp. 24–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R.: 1986, Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory (Praeger, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Reidenbach, E. R. and D. P. Robin: 1988, ‘Some Initial Steps Toward Improving the Measurement of Ethics Evaluations of Marketing Activities’, Journal of Business Ethics 7, 871–879.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robin, D. P., R. E. Reidenbach andP. J. Forrest: 1996, ‘The Perceived Importance of an Ethical Issue as an Influence on the Ethical Decisionmaking of Ad Managers’, Journal of Business Research 35, 17–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schminke, M.: 1997, ‘Gender Differences in Ethical Frameworks and Evaluation of Others’ Choices in Ethical Dilemmas', Journal of Business Ethics 16(1), 55–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shore, T.: 1992, ‘Subtle Gender Bias in the Assessment of Managerial Potential’, Sex Roles 27, 499–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siebold, F. J.: 1988, ‘The Customer Service Ethic: Foiling the Ghost of Willy Loman’, Proceedings of the Pi Sigma Epsilon National Conference in sales Management (Atlanta, GA), pp. 55–57.

  • Singer, M. S.: 1996, ‘The Role of Moral Intensity and Fairness Perception in Judgements of Ethicality: A Comparison of Managerial Professionals and the General Public’, Journal of Business Ethics 15(4), 469–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, M. S. and A. E. Singer: 1997, ‘Observer Judgements about Moral Agents' Ethical Decisions: The Role of Scope of Justice and Moral Intensity’, Journal of Business Ethics 16(5), 473–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singhapakdi, A. and S. J. Vitell: 1991, ‘Analyzing the Ethical Decision Making of Sales Professionals’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management XI(4) (Fall), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singhapakdi, A. and S. J. Vitell: 1992, ‘Marketing Ethics: Sales Professionals Versus Other Marketing Professions’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management XII(2) (Spring), 27–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singhapakdi, A.,S. J. Vitell andK. L. Kraft: 1996, ‘Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-Making of Marketing Professionals’, Journal of Business Research 36, 245–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparks, J. R. and M. Johlke: 1996, ‘Factors Influencing Student Perceptions of Unethical Behavior by Personal Salespeople: An Experimental Investigation’, Journal of Business Ethics 15(8), 871–887.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, T. H. andC. D. Bodkin: 1998, ‘A Cross-National Comparison of University Students' Perceptions Regarding the Ethics and Acceptability of Sales Practices’, Journal of Business Ethics 17(1), 45–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, G. E., W. D. Richardson andA. E. Abramowitz: 1989, ‘Perceptual Differences of Ethical Decision Situations Business vs. Law: A Difference of Opinion’, Southern Management Association Proceedings, 199–201.

  • Swim, J.: 1994, ‘Perceived Versus Meta-Analytic Effect Sizes: An Assessment of the Accuracy of Gender Stereotypes’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66, 21–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takala, T. and O. Uusitalo: 1995, ‘Retailers' Professional and Professio-Ethical Dilemmas: The Case of Finnish Retailing Business’, Journal of Business Ethics 14(11), 893–907.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevino, L. K.: 1986, ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model’, Academy of Management Review 11, 601–617.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsalikis, J., E. R. Reidenbach andD. P. Robin: 1991, ‘Foreign Business “Payments”: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Greek and American Ethical Evaluations’, Journal of International Consumer Marketing 4(1/2), 91–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, J.: 1990, ‘Managers' Moral Reasoning: Assessing their Responses in Three Moral Dilemmas’, Human Relations 43(7), 687–702.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, J.: 1993, ‘Assessing the Role of the Moral Issue and its Intensity upon Managerial Decision Making’, International Association for Business and Society Proceedings, 390–394.

  • White, L. P. and M. J. Rhodeback: 1992, ‘Ethical Dilemmas in Organization Development: A Cross-Cultural Analysis’, Journal of Business Ethics 11, 663–670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wotruba, T. R.: 1990, ‘A Comprehensive Framework for the Analysis of Ethical Behavior, with a Focus on Sales Organizations’, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management 10 (Spring), 29–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • York, K. M.: 1989, ‘Defining Sexual Harassment in Workplaces: A Policy-Capturing Approach’, Academy of Management Journal 32, 830–850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zey-Ferrell, M. K. and O. C. Ferrell: 1982, ‘Roleset Configuration and Opportunity as Predictors of Unethical behavior in Organizations’, Human Relations 35(7), 587–604.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida International University, Department of Marketing, University Park, Miami, FL, 33199, U.S.A

    John Tsalikis, Bruce Seaton & Philip L. Shepherd

Authors
  1. John Tsalikis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bruce Seaton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Philip L. Shepherd
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tsalikis, J., Seaton, B. & Shepherd, P.L. Relativism in Ethical Research: A Proposed Model and Mode of Inquiry. Journal of Business Ethics 32, 231–246 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010700308774

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010700308774

Keywords

Search

Navigation