A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing

This article addresses a significant gap in the theoretical literature on marketing ethics. This gap results from the lack of an integrated framework which clarifies and synthesizes the multiple variables that explain how marketers make ethical/unethical decisions. A contingency framework is recommended as a starting point for the development of a theory of ethical/unethical actions in organizational environments. This model demonstrates how previous research can be integrated to reveal that ethical/unethical decisions are moderated by individual factors, significant others within the organizational setting, and opportunity for action.