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Ethics, Sustainability, and Culture: A Review and Directions for Research

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Advances in Global Marketing

Abstract

Rising fuel prices, concerns over global warming, and increased consumer demands for more ethical business operations have prompted scholars to look into ethics and sustainability issues from a research angle. Thousands of articles have been published on the subject since the 1960s. However, despite the global nature and importance of ethics and sustainability issues, less attention has been paid to such issues within the international business domain. In addition, while a number of reviews were conducted in this area, these are too generic in focus to provide in-depth assessments of particular thematic areas of importance. Our work focuses on a specific international business area, namely the intersection between ethics and sustainability with culture. It identifies, reviews, and synthesizes previously published work in this area. The study uncovers inconsistencies, reveals critical knowledge gaps, and presents fruitful opportunities for researchers investigating the role of culture within the ethics and sustainability domains.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At the country level, these concepts focus on improving quality of life within the planet’s capacity limits to supply natural resources indefinitely (Weybrecht, 2010). At the firm level, sustainability has been frequently associated with the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework introduced by Elkington (1998) stressing the need to balance three important dimensions namely economic prosperity, social equity, and ecological quality.

  2. 2.

    For instance, Jackson and Apostolakou (2010) presented a comparison of sustainability practices across 16 countries and Rao (2000) across four countries. However, neither study specifically included cultural dimensions in the analysis and comparison of sustainability practices across different countries.

  3. 3.

    Relatedly, studies at the country-level seem to focus on a narrow set of countries on which data from the Hofstede and Globe projects can be obtained and combined with sustainability-related data. However, there are many other regions and countries not covered, in which future research can expand the data collection scope for more comprehensive and accurate analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Maurice Keyworth Building, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Constantinos N. Leonidou & Charalampos Saridakis

  2. Athens University of Economics and Business, 12 Derigny Str., 10434, Athens, Greece

    Dionysis Skarmeas

Authors
  1. Constantinos N. Leonidou
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  2. Dionysis Skarmeas
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  3. Charalampos Saridakis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Constantinos N. Leonidou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Leonidas C. Leonidou

  2. Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, USA

    Constantine S. Katsikeas

  3. Collins College of Business, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

    Saeed Samiee

  4. Faculty of Business, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey

    Bilge Aykol

Appendices

Appendix 1: Effects of Individual Cultural Dimensions on Ethics-Related Outcomes

Cultural dimension examined

Findings

Verdict

Achievement

Managerial level:

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Cullen et al., 2004)

Positive effect on ethics-related outcomes at the managerial level

Assertiveness

Country level:

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (G) (Parboteeah, Cullen, Victor, & Sakano, 2005)

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at the country level

Collectivism

Consumer level:

• Overall positive effect on marketing ethical norms (Paul et al., 2006)

• Positive effect on teleological and deontological evaluation and no effect on intention to adopt a public bicycle-sharing scheme (Yin et al., 2016)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at the consumer level

Collectivism (confucian)

–

–

Collectivism (horizontal)

–

–

Collectivism (in-group)

Country level:

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Negative effects on ethics-related outcomes at the country level

Collectivism (institutional)

Country level:

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (G) (Parboteeah et al., 2005)

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at country level

Collectivism (vertical)

–

–

Future orientation

Country level:

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at the country level

Gender egalitarianism

Country level:

• No effect on corruption perception index (Roy & Goll, 2014)

No effect on ethics-related outcomes

Humane orientation

Country level:

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (G) (Parboteeah et al., 2005)

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at the country level

Individualism

Country level:

• Negative correlation with level of corruption (Husted, 1999)

• Negative effect on software piracy (Husted, 2000)

• No effect on ethical attitude (Franke & Nadler, 2008)

• Positive effect on issuance of good governance codes (Haxhi & Van Ees, 2010)

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Firm level:

• Positive effects on ethics systems, ethics communication, ethics implementation, and corruption but no effect on human rights (Scholtens & Dam, 2007).

Managerial level:

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Cullen et al., 2004)

• Positive effect on unethical actions perceptions (Arnold et al., 2007)

• No effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Chen, 2014)

Consumer level:

• Positive correlation with ethical perceptions (Armstrong, 1996)

• Positive effect on egoism (Leonidou et al., 2013c)

• Positive effect on questionable consumer practices (Lu et al., 2015)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at country and firm levels. Mixed and inconclusive results at the managerial and consumer levels

Individualism (horizontal)

–

–

Individualism (vertical)

–

–

Indulgence

–

–

Long-term orientation

Consumer level:

• Overall positive effect on marketing ethical norms (Paul et al., 2006)

Positive effects on ethics-related outcomes at the consumer level

Masculinity

Country level:

• Positive effect on level of corruption (Husted, 1999)

• No effect on software piracy (Husted, 2000)

• No effect on ethical attitude (Franke & Nadler, 2008)

• No effect on issuance of good governance codes (Haxhi & Van Ees, 2010)

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Firm level:

• Negative effect on human rights, but no effect on ethics systems, ethics communication, ethics implementation, and corruption (Scholtens & Dam, 2007)

Managerial level:

• Negative effect on unethical actions perceptions (Arnold et al., 2007)

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Chen, 2014)

Consumer level:

• No correlation with ethical perceptions (Armstrong, 1996)

• Overall negative effect on marketing ethical norms (Paul et al.. 2006)

• Positive effect on egoism (Leonidou et al., 2013c)

Inconclusive results on ethics-related outcomes at the country level. Positive effects at managerial level and overall negative effect at consumer level

Pecuniary materialism

Managerial level:

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Cullen et al., 2004)

Negative effect on ethics-related outcomes at the managerial level

Performance based culture

Country level:

• Positive effect on corruption perception index (Roy & Goll, 2014)

Negative effect on ethics-related outcomes at country level

Performance orientation

Country level:

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (G) (Parboteeah et al., 2005)

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Mixed and inconclusive results ethics-related outcomes at the country level

Power distance

Country level:

• Positive effect on level of corruption (Husted, 1999)

• No effect on software piracy (Husted, 2000)

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Parboteeah et al., 2005)

• Negative effect on ethical attitude (Franke & Nadler, 2008)

• No effect on issuance of good governance codes (Haxhi & Van Ees, 2010)

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Firm level:

• Negative effect on human rights but no effects on ethics systems, ethics communication, ethics implementation, and corruption. (Scholtens & Dam, 2007)

Managerial level:

• No effect on unethical actions perceptions (Arnold et al., 2007)

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Chen, 2014)

Consumer level:

• No correlation with ethical perceptions (Armstrong, 1996)

• Overall no effect on marketing ethical norms (Paul et al., 2006)

• Positive effect on idealism (Leonidou et al., 2013c)

Negative effects on ethics-related outcomes at the country and firm levels. Mixed and inconclusive results at the managerial and consumer levels. Globe measures provide identical results to Hofstede measures

Pragmatism

–

–

Socially supportive culture

Country level:

• No effect on corruption perception index (Roy & Goll, 2014)

No effect on ethics-related outcomes

Traditional/Secular-rational values

–

–

Uncertainty avoidance

Country level:

• Positive effect on level of corruption (Husted, 1999)

• No effect on software piracy (Husted, 2000)

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (G) (Parboteeah et al., 2005)

• Overall no effect on marketing ethical norms (Paul et al., 2006)

• Negative effect on ethical attitude (Franke & Nadler, 2008)

• No effect on issuance of good governance codes (Haxhi & Van Ees, 2010)

• Negative effect on ethical behavior of firms (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

• Positive effect on ethical behavior of firms (G) (Karaibrahimoglou and Cangarli 2016)

Firm level:

• Positive effects on human rights and ethics systems but no effects on ethics communication, ethics implementation, and corruption (Scholtens & Dam, 2007)

Managerial level:

• No effect on unethical actions perceptions (Arnold et al., 2007)

• Negative effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Chen, 2014)

Consumer level:

• Positive correlation with ethical perceptions (Armstrong, 1996)

• Negative effect on idealism (Leonidou et al., 2013c)

Inconclusive results on ethics-related outcomes at the country level but the relationship seems to be negative. Positive and non-significant effects at the firm level. Mixed results at the managerial and consumer levels. Globe measures provide contradicting results to Hofstede measures

Universalism

Managerial level:

• Positive effect on willingness to justify ethically suspect behaviors (Cullen et al., 2004)

Negative effect on ethics-related outcomes at the managerial level

  1. Note (G) = Measures based on GLOBE study (House et al., 2002)

Appendix 2: Effects of Individual Cultural Dimensions on Sustainability-Related Outcomes

Cultural dimension examined

Findings

Verdict

Achievement

–

–

Assertiveness

Country level:

• Negative effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

Negative effect on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Collectivism

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on importance of recycling (McCarty & Shrum, 2001)

• Positive effect on willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products (Laroche et al., 2001)

• Positive effect on attitude toward green purchases (Chan, 2001)

• Positive effect on sustainability attitudes (Ng & Burke, 2010)

• Positive effect on inward and outward environmental attitude (Leonidou et al., 2010)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Collectivism (confucian)

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on environmental attitude (Cho, Thyroff, Rapert, Park, & Lee, 2013)

Positive effect on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Collectivism (horizontal)

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on environmental attitude (Cho et al., 2013)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Collectivism (in-group)

Country level:

• Positive effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

Firm level:

• No effect on shareholder, stakeholder, and community CSR values (Waldman, de Luque, Washburn, House, & Adetoun, 2006)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level but no effects at the firm level

Collectivism (institutional)

Firm level:

• Positive effect on shareholder, stakeholder, and community CSR values (Waldman et al., 2006)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the firm level

Collectivism (vertical)

Consumer level:

• Negative effect on environmental attitude (Cho et al., 2013)

Negative effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Future orientation

Country level:

• Positive effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Gender egalitarianism

Country level:

• No effect on environmental performance index and positive effect on human development index (Roy & Goll, 2014)

No effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Humane orientation

Country level:

• Positive effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Individualism

Country level:

• Positive effect on social and institutional capacity for environmental sustainability (Husted, 2005)

• No effect on environmental sustainability index (Park et al., 2007)

• Positive effect on environmental health (Onel & Mukherjee, 2014)

Firm level:

• No effect on firm social and environmental performance (Ringov & Zollo, 2007)

• No effect on green corporatism, green innovation, fair labor, and corporate social involvement (Vachon, 2010)

• Negative effect on corporate social performance (Ho et al., 2012)

• Positive effect on CSR engagement (Peng et al., 2014)

• Negative effect on employee, community, and environment performance (Thanetsunthorn, 2015)

• Negative effect on sustainability reporting (Antonicelli et al., 2015)

• Negative effect on the level of firm’s CSR disclosure (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2016)

• No effect on corporate environmental sustainability reporting (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on inconvenience of recycling (McCarty & Shrum, 2001)

• No effect on willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products (Laroche et al., 2001)

• No effects on environmental concerns and green purchase behavior (Kim & Choi, 2005)

• Positive correlation with sustainability attitudes (Ng & Burke, 2010)

• Negative effect on good consumer practices (recycling, do good) and no effect on green buying (Lu et al., 2015)

Mixed and inconclusive results on sustainability-related outcomes at the country, firm, and consumer levels

Individualism (horizontal)

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on environmental attitude (Cho et al., 2013)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Individualism (vertical)

Consumer level:

• No effect on environmental attitude (Cho et al., 2013)

No effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the consumer level

Indulgence

Firm level:

• Negative effect on corporate environmental sustainability reporting in higher quartiles (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

Negative effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the firm level

Long-term orientation

Firm level:

• Positive effect on the level of firm’s CSR disclosure (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2016)

Consumer level:

• Positive effect on inward and outward environmental attitude (Leonidou et al., 2010)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the firm and consumer levels

Masculinity

Country level:

• Negative effect on social and institutional capacity for environmental sustainability (Husted, 2005)

• Negative effect on environmental sustainability index (Park et al., 2007)

• No effect on environmental health (Onel & Mukherjee, 2014)

Firm level:

• Negative effect on firm social and environmental performance (Ringov & Zollo, 2007)

• No effect on green corporatism, environmental innovation, fair labor, and corporate social involvement (Vachon, 2010)

• Positive effect on corporate social performance (Ho et al., 2012)

• Negative effect on CSR engagement (Peng et al., 2014)

• Negative effect on employee and community performance and no effect on environment performance (Thanetsunthorn, 2015)

• No effect on sustainability reporting (Antonicelli et al., 2015)

• Negative effect on the level of firm’s CSR disclosure (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2016)

• Negative effect on corporate environmental sustainability in higher quartiles (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

Overall, negative results on sustainability-related outcomes at the country and firm levels. But some studies revealed neutral or positive effects also

Pecuniary materialism

–

–

Performance based culture

Country level:

• No effect on environmental performance and human development indices and negative effect (Roy & Goll, 2014)

No effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Performance orientation

Country level:

• Negative effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

Negative effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Power distance

Country level:

• Negative effect on social and institutional capacity for environmental sustainability (Husted, 2005)

• Negative effect on environmental sustainability index (Park et al., 2007)

• No effect on environmental health (Onel & Mukherjee, 2014)

Firm level:

• Negative effect on shareholder, stakeholder, and community CSR values (G) (Waldman et al., 2006)

• Negative effect on firm social and environmental performance (Ringov & Zollo, 2007)

• No effect on green corporatism, environmental innovation, fair labor, and corporate social involvement (Vachon, 2010)

• Positive effect on corporate social performance (Ho et al., 2012)

• Negative effect on CSR engagement (Peng et al., 2014)

• Negative effect on employee, community, and environment performance (Thanetsunthorn, 2015)

• Negative effect on sustainability reporting (Antonicelli et al., 2015)

• Negative effect on the level of firm’s CSR disclosure (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2016)

• Negative effect on corporate environmental sustainability in higher quartiles (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

Overall, negative results on sustainability-related outcomes at the country and firm levels. But some studies revealed neutral or positive effects also. Globe measures provide similar results to Hofstede measures

Pragmatism

Firm level:

• Positive effect on corporate environmental sustainability reporting in higher quartiles (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

Positive effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the firm level

Socially supportive culture

Country level:

• No effect on environmental performance and human development indices (Roy & Goll, 2014)

No effects on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level

Survival/self-expression values

–

–

Uncertainty avoidance

Country level:

• No effect on social and institutional capacity for environmental sustainability (Husted, 2005)

• No effect on environmental sustainability index (Park et al., 2007)

• No effect on propensity to support sustainability initiatives (G) (Parboteeah et al., 2012)

• Positive effect on environmental health (Onel & Mukherjee, 2014)

Firm level:

• No effect on firm social and environmental performance (Ringov & Zollo, 2007)

• Negative effect on green corporatism, environmental innovation, fair labor, and corporate social involvement (Vachon, 2010)

• Positive effect on corporate social performance (Ho et al., 2012)

• Negative effect on CSR engagement (Peng et al., 2014)

• No effect on employee performance and positive effect on community and environment performance (Thanetsunthorn, 2015)

• Positive effect on sustainability reporting (Antonicelli et al., 2015)

• Negative effect on the level of firm’s CSR disclosure (Garcia-Sanchez et al., 2016)

• Positive effect on corporate environmental sustainability in higher quartiles (Gallego-Álvarez & Ortas, 2016)

No effect on sustainability-related outcomes at the country level. One study found a positive effect. Mixed and inconclusive results at the firm level. Globe measures provide similar results to Hofstede measures

Universalism

–

–

  1. Note (G) = Measures based on GLOBE study (House et al., 2002)

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Leonidou, C.N., Skarmeas, D., Saridakis, C. (2018). Ethics, Sustainability, and Culture: A Review and Directions for Research. In: Leonidou, L., Katsikeas, C., Samiee, S., Aykol, B. (eds) Advances in Global Marketing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61385-7_19

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