The Role of Moral Philosophies and Value Orientations in Consumer Ethics: a Post-Transitional European Country Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to broaden knowledge of the antecedents of consumer ethics and examine them in a novel setting. Thus, two complementary pairs of variables, i.e., moral philosophies (idealism and relativism) and value orientations (individualism and collectivism), are proposed as predictors of consumer ethical beliefs. The study was conducted in a post-transitional European country where consumer ethics has not been extensively explored. Using a survey method, data were collected through an on-line consumer panel. Structural equation modelling was employed for the data analysis. The findings confirm that idealism and collectivism influence beliefs regarding (1) actively benefiting from illegal actions, (2) passively benefiting, and (3) questionable, but legal actions. Relativism is a determinant of beliefs concerning (1) passively benefiting, (2) questionable, but legal actions, and (3) no harm/no foul actions. Individualism has an effect on two dimensions of consumer ethical beliefs: (1) passively benefiting and (2) questionable, but legal actions. The findings could help companies and public policymakers in addressing consumer ethics.Ethics violations have been found at the centre of some recent infamous corporate scandals (Soltani 2014) and, as a result, became front-page news. These issues have increased consumer disillusionment with unethical and, sometimes, clearly illegal business practices (Schlegelmilch 1996). However, a double standard seems to exist in consumer perceptions of the unethical behaviour of companies compared to the unethical behaviour of consumers.

Ethical leadership in organizations: evidence from the field

“…While idealism makes people to follow the right actions to get desirable consequences, relativism makes people not to have universal moral codes (Forsyth, 1980). Both, idealism and relativism, have significant influence on ethical beliefs (Vitell and Paolillo, 2003) and depicts an individual's attitude toward ethics (Culiberg, 2015). Moral identity of a leader shapes his capability to take ethical decisions and has a positive relationship with ethical leadership (Nunn and Avella, 2015).…”

A Spanish perspective on the impact on religiosity and spirituality on consumer ethics

“…A reliable definition of consumer ethics is ‘the moral principles and standards that guide the behavior of individuals or groups as they obtain, use and dispose of goods and services’ (Muncy & Vitell, , p. 298). Other authors have also made significant contributions to the advancement of consumer ethics from both the theoretical and empirical perspective (Al‐Khatib et al, ; Arli & Pekerti, ; Arli et al, ; Culiberg, ; Rodriguez‐Rad & Ramos‐Hidalgo, Vitell, ). A scale of consumer ethics has been developed from these studies that allows consumers’ ethical beliefs to be observed in relation to their attitude to certain behaviours that could, at best, be considered questionable.…”

“…There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of consumer ethics and the majority of these studies are approached from the vendor's perspective (Bellizzi & Hite, ; Chonko, Tanner, & Weeks, ; Singhapakdi & Vitell, ; Singhapakdi, Vitell, & Franke, ). However, there is a small but growing number of studies that analyze these ethical problems from the consumer's perspective (Arli, Leo, & Tjiptono, ; Culiberg, ; Vitell & Muncy, ).…”

“…Studies of these relationships have often encountered significant problems. Some recent studies have failed to use the fifth dimension of the CES (Arli et al, ; Culiberg, ; Kavak, Gürel, Eryiğit, & Tektaş, ; Schneider, Krieger, & Bayraktar, ), but this new approach provides a possible solution to these problems.…”

Does ethics need religion? Evaluating the importance of religiosity in consumer ethics

“…Consumer ethical scales developed by Vitell and Muncy (2005) have been widely tested in various countries such as Australia (Chowdhury and Fernando, 2013;Pekerti and Arli, 2015;Rawwas et al, 1996); Belgium (Van Kenhove et al, 2001); China (Zhao and Xu, 2013); Egypt (Al-Khatib et al, 1995, 1997Rawwas, 2001;Rawwas et al, 1994); France (Gentina et al, 2016); Hong Kong (Chan et al, 1998;Bateman et al, 2002); Japan (Erffmeyer et al, 1999); Northern Ireland ; Lebanon (Rawwas, 2001;; Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait (Al-Khatib et al, 2005); Singapore (Ang et al, 2001); Slovenia (Culiberg, 2015); Thailand (Arli et al, 2015); Taiwan (Lu et al, 2015) and most frequently in the USA (Albers-Miller, 1999;Bateman et al, 2002;Dodge et al, 1996;Flurry and Swimberghe, 2016;Gardner et al, 1999;Muncy and Vitell, 1992;Muncy and Eastman, 1998;Rallapalli et al, 1994;Rawwas and Singhapakdi, 1998;Strutton et al, 1994;Vitell and Muncy, 1992;Vitell et al, 2001). However, despite the large number of studies devoted to consumer ethics, there are still relatively few have investigated the role of religiosity in consumer ethics.…”