Essays on Marketing Research Ethics

Essays on Marketing Research Ethics AUTHORS Y V # R O L TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Achen8 2 June baum, A lvin 5 5 -July A. Can We tolerate a Double Standard in Marketing Research Ethics in Marketing Research JAR 25-28 proposes Certified Public Researchers to audit the validity and accuracy of marketing research numbers used in public f orums (e.g., ad claims, political polls) Bezilla, 7 1 Apr. Robert, Joel 6 9 B. Haynes, and Cliff ord Elliott Business 83-86 (a) client transgressions include: (1) “ holding out the carrot ” proposals (i.e., first in a series Horizons of studies); (2) soliciting mult iple bids to fulf ill corporate purchasing requirements; (3) making unauthorized requests for proposals; (4) conducting psuedo-pilot studies (i.e., never intended to run full study; researchers can’ t amortize costs over entire project); and (5) “ picking t he brains” of research bidders and t hen giving best ideas t o low bidder (b) solut ions include: (1) partial or tot al payment for proposals; and (2) strong prof essional organizations to police and discourage such transgressions 44-47 Blankenship, A.B. 7 1 Aug 1 Point of View : JA Consumerism and Consumer Research 1 AUTHORS Y V # R O L 6 1 May 4 TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Blankenship, A.B. Some Aspects of Ethics in Marketing Research JMR 26-31 (a) ethical codes provide merely guidepost s because they cover only principles of honesty (i.e., avoidance of incorrect behavior) and ignore integrity (i.e., w here one takes initiative for being honest) (b) legal requirements (i.e., strict qualification of statements) make codes less eff ective (c) et hical codes are broad reminders of principles to be follow ed (d) conflict of interest issues include (1) problems w ith subsidiary firms and leaking propriety inf ormation; (2) conflict betw een shareholder interests and client interests in publically-held research companies; and (3) interlocking directorates (e.g., research firm executive also on board of major advertiser) (e) buying-selling issues include: (1) gif ts to pot ential or current client s; and (2) commissions on research sales (e.g., finders f ees) (f) other issues include: (1) insist ing on right research approach despite client preferences; (2) handling confidential information properly; (3) avoiding conflicting competitive assignments (e.g., researching for tw o car companies); (4) maintaining proper quality standards and controls; and (5) compensating field personnel properly (e.g., reimbursing expenses and paying adequate w age) 52-53 Research Industry Coalition (RIC) holds the follow ing as unethical: (1) sugging and frugging; (2) revealing respondents’ identities w ithout their permission; (3) failing to safeguard respondent data; and (4) failing to state limitations of self-selection polls (i.e., 900 number call-in) 6-11 (a) discusses researcher’ s conflict ing roles as professional, scientist, and businessperson (b) identifies four problems: (1) researcher honest about reported actions; (2) manipulating research techniques to produced desired findings; (3) at client’ s insistance, researching the w rong problem; and (4) disguising the purpose and sponsor of the research (t o respondents) Bow ers, Diane K. 9 6 1 4 RIC MR Promotes Professionalism The JM Researcher’ s Dilemma Bogart, Leo 6 2 Jan. 2 6 Coe, Ted. L. 7 and Barbara 6 Coe Marketing Research: The Search for Professionalism AMA 257- to join the professions of law , medicine, and certified public accountancy, an enforceable Proceed- 259 code of ethics, w hich is specific t o marketing research and includes effective disciplinary ings, procedures, must be developed Bernhardt, ed. 232- (a) Tybout and Zaltman (19 74 ) naive about commercial research and focused on 233 respondents to exclusion of research suppliers and their clients (b) personal integrity, rather than legislation or ethical codes, w ill insure ethical behavior Day, Robert 7 1 May L. 5 2 A Comment JMR on “ Ethics in Marketing Research” 2 AUTHORS Y V # R O L TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Frey, 7 1 Aug. Cynthia J. 9 6 and Thomas C. Kinnear Legal JMR Constraints and Marketing Research: Review and Call to A ction Why We Need a Profession, and How to Get One Ethics in Marketing Research JAR 295- summarizes current (1979) legislation related to researcher-respondent privacy issues, 302 unfair and decept ive practices among researchers (e.g. , misrepresenting statistical accuracy of findings), and sugging Gerhold, Paul E. 7 1 Oct. 4 4 9-14 closes w ith list of principles that include: (1) to maintain the integrity of research information; (2) to guard the confidentiality of research studies; (3) to fully explain the research process to clients so that they may judge the value of any study; (4) to insist on ethical conduct in all research activities; (5 ) to acknow -ledge the limitations of research; (6) to open any study t o independent validation; (7) to share methods and experiences w ith other researchers; and (8) to support testing of competence and certification (a) primary f ocus on researcher-client relationship; issues discussed include client confidentiality , bids and proposals, conflict of interest, validation of f ield w ork, pirating f ield w orkers from other research suppliers, late payment (by client ), placing client s’ int erests above researchers’ int erests (e.g., recommending ot her firms w hen necessary expert ise unavailable), and accurate descriptions of research and its value (b) researcher-respondent issues discussed include privacy, respondent convenience, sugging, deception, anonymity (att ached to precoding questionnaires and recontacting respondents) (c) includes MRA and AM A codes of ethics (a) problematic behaviors tow ard public: (1) incomplete or misleading report ing of result s; and (2) nonobjective research--use of leading questions and promoting t he results to t he public (b) problematic corporate intelligence: (1) examining competitors’ trash; (2) staging phony job interview s; and (3) taking competit ors’ plant t ours under disguised name (c) core moral values as ranked in research associa-tions’ codes: (1) nondeception; (2) keeping promises; (3) serving others; (4) not harming others; and (5) justice (d) codes of ethics and education w ill reduce unethical research behavior Hollander, Sidney, Jr. 7 4 In Hand- 1: book of 107Market- 127 ing Research, Ferber, ed. NY: McGraw Hill Book Co. MR 6-11 Murphy, 9 4 June Patrick E. 2 and Gene R. Laczniak Emerging Ethical Issues Facing Marketing Researchers 3 AUTHORS Y V # R O L TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Murphy, 9 4 Mar. Patrick E. 2 and Gene R. Laczniak Traditional Ethical Issues Facing Marketing Researchers Ethics, Quality Control and Dat a Collection Pharmaceut ical Marketing Research in Sw eden MR 8-21 summarizes ethical concerns in researcher-respondent relationships (i.e., deceptive practices, invasion of privacy, and lack of concern for respondents) and researcher-client relationships (i.e., abuse of research design/methodology/results, researcher abuse (e.g., overbilling), and client abuse (e.g., inappropriate use of research proposals)) Nelson, Ruth 9 3 First 0 0 Q. Applied 25-29 (a) in ever more competitive field service environment, quality sacrified for production and Marketefficiency, especially because quality most difficult t o measure of t hree aspects ing (b) qualit y control expensive, so of ten limit ed Research European 58-63 (a) respect for respondent’ s privacy and time higher in Sw eden (than in US) Research (b) Data Act of 19 73 : unlaw ful to register personal data w ithout Data Inspection Board’ s w ritten permission (c) legal protection on computer-based information about people in several Western European countries Örtengren, John 8 1 Apr. 2 0 4 AUTHORS Y V # R O L 8 2 Win. 0 1 TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Rosenberg, Larry and Robert W. Shoemaker SMR Forum: Is Marketing Research Sensitive to Social Issues? Sloan 77-84 (a) causes of social insensitivity include (1) constraints on marketing managers (e.g., short Managejob tenure, evaluations solely based on profits/sales/ROI, desire to avoid bad new s, and ment limited scope of official job activities); and (2) compromised marketing researchers (e.g., Review insuff icients funds to investigate social implications of marketing strategies, selecting research designs to keep studies w ithin budget, and threatening nature of pro-’ social critic’ and anti-’ marketing management findings); (3) misapplied research techniques (e.g., ‘ leading indicator’ segments go unnoticed because focus on central tendencies and traditional grouping techniques may obscure view s of small minority, complainers and nonconforming segment inadequately represented in probability sample, omit research variables such as consumer t rust , ecological risks, and health hazards) (b) recommendations to overcome insensitivity include (1) organizational innovations (e.g., special research budget, mandatory social research statement describing how research w ill study risks or benefits to consumers and society, annual social issues report for top management, annual audit to determine research eff ectiveness in spotting social t rends; and (2) research improvements (e.g., identifying and probing early-warning minority, Megatrends-type scanning of diverse published materials, broadening consumer research to include life quality , environmental concerns, health effects, and fairness standards (c) guidelines needed to set eff ort levels for (1 ) issue detection (method and t iming), (2) determining company vulnerability, (3) determining research effectiveness, and (4) determining cost of correction MSU 13-19 (a) lists ethical considerations in treating subjects/respondents Business (b) unethical practices could cause (1) lessened public confidence in marketing research Topics and reduced prestige of marketing researchers; (2) reduced public cooperation in research studies and concomitant increased costs t o solicit respondents; (3) reduced morale of research personnel; and (4) gov ernment regulat ion of research activit ies (c) possible solutions: (1) self -rest raint; (2) make participation inherent ly w orthw hile t o study participants; (3) code of ethics; (4) certification program f or marketing researchers; (5) public aw areness campaigns on value of marketing research (d) call t o academicians t o (1) determine practices view ed as (un)ethical by society; (2) extent of practices view ed as unethical by society; and (3) impact on data quality of replacing practices view ed as unethical by societ y w it h et hical practices Schneider, Kennet h C. 7 2 Spr. 7 5 Subject and Respondent Abuse in Marketing Research 5 AUTHORS Y V # R O L TITLE JOURN. PP. NOTES Skinner, 8 1 May Steven J., 8 6 O.C. Ferrell, and Alan J. Dubinsky Tw edt, Dik Warren 6 2 July 3 7 OrganiJBR zational Dimensions of Marketing Research Ethics Why a Marketing Research Code of Ethics JM 209- argues t hat w it hin organizat ions, referent ot hers and t he opportunit y to engage in unethical 233 behavior influences ethical decision making in marketing research 48-50 (a) to prevent abuses such as sugging, t o encourage ethical conduct, and to preclude restrictive legislation, calls for an AM A code of ethical conduct for marketing research (b) code cannot set penalties, but can set minimum standards of behavior; policing still responsibility of governmental agencies such as the FTC (c) gives complete text of code approved at June 1962 AMA meeting 234- Response to Day (1975) 237 Tybout, 7 1 May Alice M. and 5 2 Gerald Zaltman A Reply to JMR Comments on “ Ethics in Marketing Research: Their Practical Relevance” Ethics in Marketing Research: Their Practical Relevance JMR Tybout, 7 1 Nov. Alice M. and 4 1 Gerald Zaltman 357- discussion of subject rights, such as: 368 (a) the right to choose (i.e., aw areness of right s, adequat e info f or an inf ormed choice, opport unit y t o make a choice); (b) the right to safety (i.e., protection of anonymit y, frredom from stress and deception); and (c) the right t o be informed (i.e., be debriefed and how data disseminated) 6 The Empirical Studies on Marketing Research Ethics AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L 9 2 W 3 1 in t e r JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Akaah, Ishmael P. Organizat ional JAMS Culture and Ethical Research Behavior 59-63 self-admini- 1 3 n Research stered mail 7 1 o Ethics survey of 4 Behavior AMA-listed Scale mktg researchers (a) five it em, 7-point Likert scale ("= .825 ), w here 1= st rongly agree and 7= st rongly disagree: (1) Sometimes I only report part of research data because I know my client /boss may not like the result s of the other part; (2) I sometimes have to cover up nonresponse and sampling error to please my client / boss; (3) I sometimes create conf lict of int erest by providing research services to competing clients/ departments; (4) I sometimes use research techniques that guarantee the obtaining of results my client/ boss desires; (5) Sometimes I claim to use the latest research techniques as a selling tool, even though I don’ t use the t echnique. (b) “ professionals in organizations w ith a bureaucraticinnovative-supportive culture reported significant ly higher ethical research behavior than eit her an innov ativesupportive culture or a bureaucratic-only culture” (p.62) (a) U.S.-based ext ension of Craw ford (1970) (b) generally no difference in answ ers by respondents w ho retruned their questionnaires anonymously versus nonanonymously (c) only significant dif ference: use of hidden tape recorders Akaah, Ismael P. 9 9 D The Influence JBE 0 e of Nonc Anonymity Deriving From Feedback of Research Results on Marketing Prof essionals’ Research Ethics Judgments 949- self-admini- 4 3 y 5-point: 959 stered mail 2 1 e 1= dissurvey of 2 s approv e, AMA-listed 5= mktg approve researchers and mktg execut ives 1 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Akaah, Ishmael P. 9 9 J Attitudes of JBE 0 a Marketing n Professionals Tow ard Ethics in Marketing Research: A Cross-Nat ional Comparison 8 8 M Diff erences in JBE 9 a Reesarch y Ethics Judgments betw een Male and Female Marketing Professionals The Incidence JAMS of Unethical Practices in Marketing Research: An Empirical Investigation 45-53 Australia, 1 2 y 5-point: Canada, 2 4 e 1= disUK, and US 7 s approv e, businesses 5= listed in approve major business directories 375- self-admini- 4 3 y 5-point: 381 stered mail 2 1 e 1= dissurvey of 0 s approv e, AMA-listed 5= mktg approve researchers and mktg execut ives 143- self-admini- 4 3 n 5-point: 152 stered mail 2 1 o 1= not at survey of 0 all comAMA-listed mon, 5= mktg highly researchers common; and mktg Hunt, execut ives Chonko, and Wilcox (1984) ethical problems in organization scale (a) cross-cultural ext ension of Craw ford (1970) (b) t o permit use of st andardized quest ionnaire, limit ed st udy to industrialized, English-speaking count ries (c) generally similar ethical attitudes; t he few intercountry differences driven by Australian respondents w ho tended tow ard greater approv al Akaah, Ishmael P. (a) gender-related extension of Craw ford (1970) (b) female respondents generally more disapproving of ethically problematic acts (c) in particular, f emale respondents more disapproving of (1) identif ying survey respondents w it h ID numbers printed in ultraviolet ink; (2) using one-w ay mirrors t o view unsuspecting subjects; (3) distorting reports to superiors of research result s; and (4) failing t o correct product overuse (a) most common questionable acts: (1) concealment of research purpose; (2) use of fictit ious company name to conceal sponsor’ s identit y; (3) sugging; and (4) deliberate understatement of time required to participate in the study (b) respondents w ho saw fewer ethical problems in their ow n firms reported low er incidence of questionable acts (c) compared t o researchers, execut ives reported a higher incidence of questionable acts (d) respondents in f irms w here top mgmt ignored unet hical acts reported higher incidence of questionable acts (e) w orking for a firm w ith a code of ethics and organizational rank unrelated to reported incidence of questionable acts Akaah, 9 1 S Ishmael P. 0 8 p and Edw ard r A. Riordan 2 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Akaah, 8 2 F Judgments of JMR Ishmael P. 9 6 e Marketing and Edw ard b Professional A. Riordan About Ethical Issues in Marketing Research: A Replication and Ext ension 112- self-admini- 4 3 y 5-point: (a) U.S.-based ext ension of Craw ford (1970) 120 stered mail 2 1 e 1= dis(b) compared to Craw ford’ s sample, more disapproval of survey of 0 s approv e, questionable acts concerning confidentiality and research AMA-listed 5= integrity, but less disapproval of questionable social acts mktg approv e; (e.g., sharing info w ith trade organization) researchers Hunt, (c) respondents w ho saw fewer ethical problems in their and mktg Chonko, ow n firms w ere more disapproving of questionable acts execut ives and (i.e., firm norms influence judgment s) Wilcox (d) respondents in f irms w here top mgmt ignored unet hical (1984) acts w ere more approving of questionable acts (i.e., ethical significant others and opportunity to act influence problems judgments) in organi- (e) w orking f or a firm w it h a code of ethics, organizat ional zation rank, and indust ry category w ere unrelat ed t o et hical scale judgments 307311 Beltramini, Richard F. 8 5 6 Ethics and the JBE Use of Competitive Information Acquisition Strategies Managerial Business Ethics: A Post- Horizons Watergate View Carroll, Archie B. 7 5 79? Cast le9 2 2 The Ethical JA berry, 3 2 Framew ork of Stephen B., Advertising Warren and MarketFrench, and ing Research Barbara A. Practitioners: Carlin A M oral Development Perspective 39-46 survey of mktg/adv researchers in AM A or MRA 1 2 n Rest’ s 1 5 o DIT 8 (a) applied Kohlberg’ s stages of moral development (b) mktg/adv researchers at least at the same levels of moral development as general population (c) 99% of mktg/adv researcher respondents in convent ional and post-convent ional st age (by DIT scale), so code of ethical standards for research, by setting behavioral norms, should improve research ethicality 3 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L The Role of Ethics in Gathering Corporate Intelligence JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Cohen, 8 7 William and 8 Helena Czepiec JBE 199- participants 4 n y 203 in seminar 5 a e on 1 s competitive intelligence (a) roughly half of companies used and respondents condoned gat hering compet it or information by (1) posing as thesis-w riting graduate student, (2) pumping VP’ s secretary w hile VP at lunch, (3) posing as employ ee of private research firm, (4) posing as jobseeking college student , (5) posing as competitor looking for plant site (to verify rumors that competitor is opening plant in a small tow n), (6) pumping competi-tor’ s employee at conference after buying him/her several drinks, and (7) f inding informant in competit or’ s employ Coney, 7 Kenneth A. 6 and John H. Murphy Attitudes of Marketers Tow ard Ethical and Professional Marketing Practices SMA Pro- 172ceedings, 174 Nash and Robin, eds. Craw ford, C. 7 3 A Attitudes on JM Merle 0 4 p Marketing r Executives Tow ard Ethics in Marketing Research 46-52 self-admini- 4 5 y stered mail 0 7 e survey to 1 s US mktg research directors and VPs/ directors of marketing (a) seminal, of ten-cited study (b) roughly 3/4 ths disapproved of: (1) using ultraviolet ink; (2) using hidden tape recorders; (3) using one-w ay mirrors in dressing rooms;(4) exchanging confident ial price dat a; (5) distort ing reports to superiors of research results; and (6) hiring based on race or religion (c) roughly 50% disapproved of: (1) failing to correct product overuse; (2) buying a major client ’ s stock; and (3) failing to perform social w ork that might put current clients out of business (d) roughly 5/6t hs approved of: (1) quickly completing interview s of busy executives by pretending to call from out of t ow n; and (2) using a fictit ious name for one’ s research firm 4 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L 7 1 F Visible vs. 7 7 e Disguised b Keying on Questionnaires JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E 2 0 0 0 n o NOTES Erdos, P.L. and Regier, J. JAR 13-18 self-administered mail survey to US consumers (a) found no difference in response rate to question-naires w ith visible ID numbers versus questionnaires w ith no ID numbers; suggests hidden ID unnecessary (b) caveat: questionnaires contained few sensitive items (a) 6-item Likert scale ("= .71): (1) sometimes I compromise the reliability of a study to complete the project; (2) dometimes I only report part of the data because I know my client may not like the result s; (3 ) I sometimes have to cover up nonrespone and sampling error to please my clients; (4) I have continued a research project aft er know ing I made errors early; (5) sometimes I have to alter the sampling design in order to obtain enough respondents; and (6) sometimes I claim to use the lastest research techniques as a selling tool, even though I don’ t use the t echniques (b) having or not having (1) a code of ethics, and (2) f ormal statements of procedures, accounts for 2/ 3rds of t he explained variance (R2) in stated ethical behavior of employees of data subcontractors, marketing research firms, and corporate research departments (c) f emale researchers have st ronger ethical at tit udes t han male researchers Ferrell, O.C. 8 2 F Ethical JMR and Steven 8 5 e Behavior and J. Skinner b Bureaucratic Struct ure in Marketing Research Organizations 103- self-admini- 5 3 n Ethical 109 stered mail 5 8 o Behavior survey of 0 in AMA-listed Research and MRAActivit ies list ed Scale empoyees of data subcontractors, mktg research firms, and corporate research depts Ferrell, O.C. 7 and K. Mark 8 Weaver French, Warren A. and Myra Ebner Ethical Beliefs JM of Marketing Managers 69-73 8 2 F A Practical 6 6 al Look at l Research Ethics Journal of 49-53 Dat a Collection 5 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L 9 8 2 Practitioners’ 3 Perceptions of Ethical Standards in Marketing: An Empirical Investigation JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Gaedeke, Ralph M., Craig A. Kelley, and Dennis H. Toot elian Journal of 11-26 self-admini- 1 3 n 5-point: Prostered mail 4 1 o 1= ethfessional survey of 8 ical, Services AMA-listed 5= unMarket-ing mktg pracethical titioners (a) general study of marketing ethics (b) respondents t ended to disagree that “ researchers face more ethical dilemmas than other marketing personnel” (c) most unethical research practices included: (1) assuming false identities to gain information; (2) giving respondent names to another dept. of firm aft er anonymit y promised; (3) failure to inform participants of true nature of a test; (4) sugging and frugging; (5) obtaining info f rom execut ive secretaries in rival companies; (6) f ailure to inf orm focus group members about use of one-w ay mirrors (a) test eff ect of (1) sponsor identification, and (2) disclosure of respondents’ right to refuse to participate, on response rate to mail survey (b) in both cases, overall response rate low er for commercial sponsor than research firm or university sponsor Haw kins, Del I. 7 5 4 The Impact of Journal of 577- experiment; 9 n n na 9 2 Sponsor Business 590 various 3 a o Identification versions of 0 and Direct survey Disclosure of mailed to Respondent adult female Rights on the shoppers Quantity and Quality of Mail Survey Dat a 6 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Hunt, 8 2 A Ethical Shelby D., 4 1 u Problems of Law rence B. g Marketing Chonko, and Researchers James B. Wilcox JMR 309- self-admini- 4 2 n Ethical 324 stered mail 6 5 o Problems survey to 0 Scale AMA-listed and selfreporting mktg researchers (a) 8-item Likert scale ("= .82): (1) marketing managers in my company oft en engage in behaviors that I con-sider to be unethical; (2) there are many opport unities for marketing managers in my company to engage in unethical behavior; (3) successful marketing managers in my company are generally more ethical than unsuc-cessful managers; (4) in order to succeed in my com-pany it is often necessary to compromise one’ ethics; (5) successful managers in my company w ithout information that is detrimental to t heir self-interest; (6) successful managers in my company make rivals look bad in the eyes of important people in my company; (7) successful managers in my company look for a ‘ scape-goat’ w hen they f eel they may be associated w ith failure; and (8) successful managers in my company take credit f or the ideas and accomplishments of others (b) major issues thought to cause ethical conflict (in rank order of times mentioned): (1) research integrity (e.g., falsifying figures, misusing statistics); (2) treating outside clients fairly (e.g., passing on hidden charges); (3) client confidentiality; (4) social issues (e.g., balanc-ing company’s and society’ s interests); (5) personnel decisions (e.g., firing older, less adept w orker); and (6) treating respondents fairly (e.g., deception) (c) current (1984 ) AM A code of ethics ignores some of these issues (e.g. , treatment of outside client s, social issues, personnel issues) (d) although ample opportunities to behave unethical, roughly 1/6 th of respondents believe managers in their ow n companies frequently behave unethically, but roughly 1/3 rd believe that managers in other companies frequently behave unethically (e) although general belief by respondent s (roughly 5/6ths) that unethical behaviors are unnecessary f or success), roughly ¼ to ½ of respondents believed specif ic unethical behaviors (e.g., looking f or a scapegoat) necessary f or success 7 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Kelley, 9 9 A Ethical Behav- JBE Scott. W., 0 u ior Among O.C. Ferrell, g Marketing and Steven Researchers: J. Skinner An Assessment of Selected Demographic Characteristics Kelley, Scott 8 1 J Opportunistic JBR W., Steven 9 8 u Behavior in J. Skinner, n Marketing and O.C. e Research Ferrell Organizations 681- self-admini- 5 3 n 6 point: 688 stered mail 5 8 o 1= definsurvey to 0 itely MRA-listed agree; and AMA6= definlisted mktg itely researchers disagree (a) ext ension of (uses same data set as) Kelley, Skinner, and Ferrell (1989) (b) relates demographics to 10 problematic research practices (c) f emales, older (50+ year old), and graduate-degreeholding researchers more st rongly disagree than males that they have performed 7 of 10 such acts 327- self-admini- 5 3 n 3 5-item 340 stered mail 5 8 o dichosurvey to 0 tomous MRA-listed scales for and AMAopporlist ed data tunism, researchers ethical w orking for climate, data suband contractors, ethical mktg profile research firms, and corporate research dept. (a) ethical climate and prof ile it ems: (1) has an ethical code; (2) enforces an ethical code; (3) sometimes delet es parts of dat a set s t o improv e results; (4) keeps confident ial data confidential’ and (5) mispresents statistical accuracy of data (b) employees of corporate research departments w ere less opportunistic t han employees of data subcontractors (c) inverse relationship betw een ethical climate and opportunism, w hich suggests t hat opportunism can be reduced if the et hical climate is improv ed (d) employees are less opportunistic w hen they believe their client or agency organizations stress ethics (e) employees of data subcontractors and marketing research firms believe corporate research departments stress ethics less than their ow n organizations 8 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L How Ethical are Professional Marketing Researchers JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Laroche. 8 1 W Michel, K.L. 6 1 in McGow n, t and Joyce e Rainville r Business Forum 21-25 self-admini- 7 3 n stered mail 8 2 o survey to presidents of mktg research firms in Canada (a) replication and extension of McGow n (1979) (b) most frequent client-initated abuses: (1) soliciting multiple bids to fulf ill corporate purchasing requirements; (2) “ picking the brains” of research bidders and then giving best ideas to low bidder or in-house supplier; and (3) sugging (c) most frequent unethical act s tow ard respondents: (1) misleading respondents about interview duration; (2) giving clients original surveys (with respondent names); (3) f ailing to forw ard respondents of f ollow -up contacts; (4) using hidden codes on “ anonymous” surveys; (5) using concealed tape recorders w it hout respondent’ s know ledge; (6) using one-w ay mirrors or hidden TV cameras w ithout respondent’ s know ledge McBurney, William J. 6 5 F Marketing AMA Pro- 172a Research and ceedings 183 l the Consultant l 74-80 telephone survey of consumers (5-period, 10 -year, longit udinal study) 2 n n 0 a o 9 9 (a) over 50 % had ever been interview ed and roughly 1/3rd had been interview ed in last year (b) less than 20% believed last interview contained confusing w ording or overly personal questions, or w as too long (c) roughly 1/3rd w ere vict ims of sugging (d) regarding the positive public image of survey research: (1) roughly 85% felt survey research industry serves a useful purpose, more than 2/ 3rds thought that answ ering survey questions was in their best interest, roughly 80% thought surveys helped manufacturers make bet ter products, roughly 2/3rd t hought research f irms maintained respondent confidentiality (e) regarding the negative public image of survey research: (1) roughly 20% thought answ ering surveys a w aste of time, (2) roughly ¼ felt surveys an invasion of privacy, th and (3) roughly ½ thought survey quest ions too personal McDaniel, 8 2 F The Threats to JMR Stephen W., 5 2 e Marketing Perry b Research: An Verille, and Empirical Charles S. Appraisal Madden 9 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L 7 9 JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES McGow n, K.L. Ethical Issues AIDS Pro- 195- self-admini- 2 4 Involving t he ceedings, 197 stered mail 4 4 Protection of Hair, ed. survey to 9 Marketing commercial Research marketing Practitioners research and contractors Respondents in Canada (a) st udied believed f requency of problematic practices (b) on client abuse of research f irms, over 65% believed that the follow ing occurred at least occasionally: (1) creating best st udy f rom set of proposals and then letting low -bidder or in-house department conduct it; (2) soliciting bids t o comply w ith company’ s purchasing policy; (3) soliciting research unlikely t o be undertaken; (4) sugging; and (5) distort ing results for publication (c) large gap betw een ideal behaviors and practice; few er than 15 % approved of 1 5 (of 19 ) problematic research practices (e.g., concealed tape recorders), but roughly half had confronted or performed such practices Murphy, 8 Patrick E. 1 and Gene R. Laczniak Marketing Ethics: A Review w ith Implications for M anagers, Educators and Researchers Ethics-Everyday Choices in Marketing Research Ethics and Marketing Research In Review 251of M ar266 keting, Enis and Roering, eds. JAR 10-12 Ossip, Al 8 2 O 5 5 c tN o v 8 2 Schneider, Kennet h C. In The Practice of Mar-keting Research, Nelson, ed. Boston: Kent Publishing Co. 10 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E 2 6 y Q: 5 4 e Should 6 s this co. have been allow ed to do this? 5-point: 1= definitely yes; 5= definitely no NOTES Schneider, 8 2 S Kennet h C. 2 4 p and Cynthia r K. Holm Decpetive CMR Practices in Marketing Research: The Consumer’ s View point 89-96 handdelivered survey to random sample of St. Cloud residents (a) responses to scenarios about research practices (b) acceptable practices: (1) uncontrolled interview length; (2) subst it ut e compen-sation; and (3) agency sponsor given (c) problematic practices: (1) sugging; (2) f ictit ious, neutral sponsor given; (3) f aked anonymit y for reminder notification; and (4) fict itious, official-sounding sponsor given (d) unethical practices: (1) lying about int erview length; (2) faked anonymit y t o create sales lead; (3) faked anonymit y to match previously collected data; and (4) undelivered compensation of any value Whipple, 9 1 S Business JBE Thomas W. 2 1 e Ethics and Dominic p Judgments: A F. Sw ords t Cross-Cultural Comparison 671- self-admini- 3 n y 5-point: 678 stered in1 a e 1= disclass survey 9 s approv e, of US and 5= UK underapprove graduate business student s 56-63 self-admini- 1 n y 5-point: stered in9 a e 1= disclass survey 6 s approv e, of under5= graduate approve business student s (a) used 11 scenarios from Craw ford (1970 )/Akaah and Riordan (1989) (b) w here differences in et hical: (1) US st udent s reported more ethical attitudes than UK students att itudes (4 of 11 scenarios--regarding confidentiality , research integrity, and marketing mix issues ); and (2) female students reports more ethical attitudes than male students (5 of 11 scenarios--regarding marketing mix and social issues) (a) used 11 scenarios from Craw ford (1970 )/Akaah and Riordan (1989); compared student to practit ioner responses (b) greatest similarity in ethical standards of st udents and practitioners at extremes of (un)ethical behavior (i.e., scenarios receiving highest/ low est disapproval) (c) students more sensitive to social issues scenarios (d) female students more critical than male students of problematic researcher actions Whipple, 9 1 S Thomas W. 1 3 p and D.D. r Wolf Judgments of JME Marketing Students about Ethical Issues in Marketing Research: A Comparison to Marketing Practitioners 11 AUTHORS Y V # TITLE R O L 8 8 D M BA ’ s 9 e Changing c Attitudes Tow ard Marketing Dilemmas: 1981-1987 JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY & SAMPLE n R S ETHICS R C SCALE % E NOTES Zinkhan, George M., Michael Bisesi, and Mary Jane Saxt on JBE 963- MBA 5 n y content 974 students 6 a e analysis enrolled at 1 s of openthe Univ. of ended reHouston sponses (a) part of larger, longitudinal ethics study conducted from Fall 19 81 to Spring 198 7 (b) roughly 2/3rds w illing to (1)hire compet it or’ s employ ee to learn of compet it ors plans, and (2) send someone to snoop on competitor at a trade show (c) sugging and using a fict itious research company name w as approved by only 1/3rd in 19 81 , but by over 50% by 1987 (d) conclusion: decrease in M BA st udent s’ use of moral idealism to evaluate problematic eff orts in competitive intelligence and marketing research Key: Abbrev. AUTHORS YR VOL # TITLE JOURN. PP. TYPE OF STUDY n RR% SCE ETHICS SCA LE Meaning authors of article year of publication volume number issue number title of article journal in w hich article published page numbers of article Abbrev. AIDS AMA CMR JA JAMS JAR JBE Journal Name American Instit ut e of Decision Sciences American Marketing Association California Management Review Journal of A dvertising Journal of t he Academy of Marketing Science Journal of A dvertising Research Journal of Business Ethics Journal of Consumer Research Journal of M arketing Journal of M arketing Education Journal of M arketing Research Marketing Research: A Magazine . . . Marketing Research Association Southern Marketing Association type of study (e.g., survey, experiment) and type of sample JCR sample size response rate used (yes) or did not use (no) scenario approach scale used to assess ethicality of action JM JME JMR MR MRA SMA 12