Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-jswmv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T23:20:50.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Decision-Making Processes on Ethical Issues: The Impact of a Social Contract Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Diana C. Robertson and
William T. Ross Jr.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This paper develops a framework for examining decision making about ethical issues and tests the applicability of a social contract perspective. Using two separate samples of students and salespeople, we determine that community members (salespeople) tend to judge a potentially unethical act to constitute a violation of an implicit social contract and non-community members (students) do not. Also, consistent with the emphasis on context specificity of integrative social contracts theory, situational variables influence perceptions of ethicality for the community members, but do not affect the perceptions of individuals outside the community. The study finds considerable support for the use of a social contractarian perspective in the study of decision-making processes about ethical issues.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , April 1995, pp. 213 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bagozzi, Richard P. (1978), “Marketing as Exchange: A Theory of Transactions in the Marketplace,” American Behavioral Scientist, 21 (March-April), 535–56.Google Scholar
Baumhart, Raymond C. (1961), “How Ethical Are Businessmen?,” Harvard Business Review, 39 (July-August), 6–19, 156–76.Google Scholar
Becker, Selwyn W. and Brownson, Fred O. (1964), “What Price Ambiguity? Or the Role of Ambiguity in Decision-Making,” Journal of Political Economy, 72, 62–73.Google Scholar
Bellizi, Joseph A. and Hite, Robert E. (1989), “Supervising Unethical Sales Force Behavior,” Journal of Marketing, 53 (April), 36–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berenbeim, Ronald E. (1988) “An Outbreak of Ethics,” Across the Board, 25 (5), 15–19.Google Scholar
Blasi, Augusto (1980), “Bridging Moral Cognition and Moral Action: A Critical Review of the Literature,” Psychological Bulletin, 88 (1) (July), 1–45.Google Scholar
Brabeck, Mary (1984), “Ethical Characteristics of Whistle Blowers,” Journal of Research in Personality, 18, 41–53.Google Scholar
Brenner, Steven N. and Molander, Earl A. (1977), “Is the Ethics of Business Changing?,” Harvard Business Review, January-February, 57–71.Google Scholar
Business Week (1992), “Did Sears Take Other Customers for a Ride?,” August 3, 24–25.Google Scholar
Cavanaugh, Gerald F., Moberg, D. J., and Manuel, Velasquez (1981), “The Ethics of Organizational Politics,” Academy of Management Review, 6, 363–74.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jeffrey, Laurie, Pant and David, Sharp (1993), “A Validation and Extension of a Multidimensional Ethics Scale,” Journal of Business Ethics, 12, 13–26.Google Scholar
Curley, Shawn P., Frank Yates, J., and Richard, Abrams (1986), “Psychological Sources of Ambiguity Avoidance,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 38, 230–56.Google Scholar
Davis-Blake, Alison and Pfeffer, Jeffrey (1989), “Just a Mirage: The Search for Dispositional Effects in Organizational Research,” Academy of Management Review, 14 (3), 385–400.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Tom (1982), Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Tom and Dunfee, Thomas W. (1993), “Towards a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory,” Academy of Management Review, 19 (2), 1994.Google Scholar
Dubinsky, Alan J. (1985), Studying Field Salespeople’s Ethical Problems: An Approach for Designing Company Policy.” In Marketing Ethics: Guidelines for Managers, Laczniak, Gene R. and Patrick, Murphy, eds. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Co.Google Scholar
Dubinsky, Alan J., Jolson, Marvin A., Masaaki, Kotabe and Chae, Un Lim (1991), “A Cross-National Investigation of Industrial Salespeople’s Ethical Perceptions,” Journal of International Business Studies, Fourth Quarter, 652–70.Google Scholar
Dubinsky, Alan J. and Rudelius, William (1980), “Ethical Beliefs: How Students Compare with Industrial Salespeople,” Proceedings of the American Marketing Association Educators’ Conference.Google Scholar
Dwyer, F. Robert, Schurr, Paul H. and Sejo, Oh (1987), “Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships,” Journal of Marketing, 51 (April), 11–27.Google Scholar
Einhorn, Hillel J. and Hogarth, Robin M. (1985), “Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Probabilistic Inference,” Psychological Review, 92 (October), 433–61.Google Scholar
Einhorn, Hillel J. and Hogarth, Robin M. (1986), “Decision Making under Ambiguity,” Journal of Business, 59 (4), 225–50.Google Scholar
Ellsberg, Daniel (1961), “Risk, Ambiguity and the Savage Axioms,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 75, 643–49.Google Scholar
Ethics Resource Center (1990), Ethics Policies and Programs in American Business: Report of a Landmark Survey of U.S. Corporations. The Ethics Resource Center and The Behavior Research Center.Google Scholar
Etzioni, Amitai (1988), The Moral Dimension. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Ferrell, O. C., Gresham, Larry G. and Fraedrich, J. (1989), “A Synthesis of Ethical Decision Models for Marketing,” Journal of Macromarketing, 9 (2), 55–64.Google Scholar
Ferrell, O. C. and Gresham, Larry G. (1985), “A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 49 (Summer), 87–96.Google Scholar
Fishbein, Martin and Ajzen, Icek (1975), Relief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Forsyth, Donelson R. (1980), “A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 175–84.Google Scholar
Forsyth, Donelson R. and Berger, Rick E. (1982), “The Effects of Ethical Ideology on Moral Behavior,” The Journal of Social Psychology, 117, 53–56.Google Scholar
Fraedrich, John Paul, (1993), “The Ethical Behavior of Retail Managers,” Journal of Business Ethics, 12 (3), 207–218.Google Scholar
Fritzsche, David 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, 10 (Fall), 29–39.Google Scholar
Fritzsche, David J. and Becker, Helmut (1983), “Ethical Behavior of Marketing Managers,” Journal of Business Ethics, 2, 291–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritzsche, David J. and Becker, Helmut (1984), “Linking Managerial Behavior to Ethical Philosophy,” Academy of Management Journal, 27 (1), 166–175.Google Scholar
Gatewood, Robert D. and Carroll, Archie B. (1991), “Assessment of Ethical Performance of Organizational Members: A Conceptual Framework,” The Academy of Management Review, 16 (4), 667–90.Google Scholar
Gauthier, David (1986), Morals by Agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gundlach, Gregory T. and Murphy, Patrick E. (1993), “Ethical and Legal Foundations of Relational Marketing Exchanges,” Journal of Marketing, 57 (October), 35–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Randall S. (1992), “A Multidimensional Scale for Measuring Business Ethics: A Purification and Refinement,” Journal of Business Ethics, 11, 523–34.Google Scholar
Hite, Robert E. and Bellizi, Joseph A. (1987), “Salespeople’s Use of Entertainment and Gifts,” Industrial Marketing Management, 16, 279–85.Google Scholar
Hegarty, W. Harvey and Sims, Henry P. Jr. (1978), “Some Determinants of Unethical Decision Behavior,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 451–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegarty, W. Harvey and Sims, Henry P. Jr. (1979), “Organizational Philosophy, Policies, and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 64 (3), 331–38.Google Scholar
Hembroff, Larry A. (1987), “The Seriousness of Acts and Social Contexts: A Test of Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law,” American Journal of Sociology, 93 (2), 322–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, Robin M. (1986), “Ambiguity and Actuaries: A Survey of Members of the Casualty Actuarial Society.” University of Chicago Working Paper.Google Scholar
Houston, Franklin S. and Gassenheimer, Jule B. (1987), “Marketing and Exchange,” Journal of Marketing, 51 (4), 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, Shelby D. and Vitell, Scott (1986), “A General Theory of Marketing Ethics,” Journal of Macromarketing, 1986 (Spring), 5–16.Google Scholar
Jones, Thomas M. (1991), “Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model,” Academy of Management Review, 16 (2), 366–95.Google Scholar
Kahn, Barbara E. and Sarin, Rakesh K. (1988), “Modeling Ambiguity in Decisions under Uncertainty,” Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (2), 265–72.Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel and Tversky, Amos (1979), “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk,” Econometrica, 47 (2), 263–91.Google Scholar
Keeley, M. (1988), A Social Contract Theory of Organizations. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, Scott, Ferrell, O.C. and Skinner, S.J. (1990), “Ethical Behavior Among Marketing Researchers: An Assessment of Selected Demographic Characteristics,” Journal of Business Ethics, 9 (8), 681–688.Google Scholar
Kohlberg, Lawrence (1969), “Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization.” In Goslin, D.A. (Ed.), Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research. Chicago: Rand McNally, 347–480.Google Scholar
Laczniak, Gene R. and Inderrieden, Edward J. (1987), “The Influence of Stated Organizational Concern upon Ethical Decision Making,” Journal of Business Ethics, 6 (4), 297–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, Michael and Dubinsky, Alan J. (1983), “Identifying and Addressing Retail Salespeople’s Ethical Problems: A Method and Application,” Journal of Retailing, 59 (1), 46–66.Google Scholar
MacCrimmon, Kenneth R. and Larsson, Stig (1979), “Utility Theory: Axioms versus ‘Paradoxes’,” in Allais, M. and Hansen, O. (eds.), Expected Utility and the Allais Paradox. Hingham MA: Reidel, 333–409.Google Scholar
McDonald, Gael M. and Zepp, Raymond A. (1988), “Ethical Perceptions of Hong Kong Chinese Business Managers,” Journal of Business Ethics, 7 (11), 835–845.Google Scholar
Nunnally, Jum C. (1978), Psychometric Theory, 2nd. ed., New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
Pervin, Lawrence A. (1989), “Persons, Situations, Interactions: The History of a Controversy and a Discussion of Theoretical Models,” Academy of Management Review, 14 (3), 350–360.Google Scholar
Posner, Barry Z. and Schmidt, Warren H. (1984), “Values and the American Manager: An Update,” California Management Review, 26 (3), 202–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, Donna M. and Fernandes, Maria F. (1991), “The Social Desirability Response Bias in Ethics Research,” Journal of Business Ethics, 10 (11), 805–17.Google Scholar
Reidenbach, R. Eric and Robin, Donald P. (1990), “Toward the Development of a Multidimensional Scale for Improving Evaluations of Business Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics, 9 (8), 639–53.Google Scholar
Reidenbach, R. Eric and Robin, Donald P. (1993), “A Comment on ‘A Multidimensional Scale for Measuring Business Ethics: A Purification and Refinement’,” Journal of Business Ethics, 12 (8), 663–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reidenbach, R. Eric, Robin, Donald P. and Lyndon, Dawson (1991), “An Application and Extension of a Multidimensional Ethics Scale to Selected Marketing Practices and Marketing Groups,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 19 (2), 83–92.Google Scholar
Rest, James R. (1979) Development in Judging Moral Issues. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, Henry S. (1990), “Specifying Norms as a Way to Resolve Concrete Ethical Problems,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 19 (4), 279–310.Google Scholar
Robertson, Diana C. and Anderson, Erin (1993), “Control System and Task Environment Effects on Ethical Judgment: An Exploratory Study of Industrial Salespeople,” Organization Science, 3 (4), 617–644.Google Scholar
Ross, William T. Jr. (1991), “Performance Against Quota and the Call Selection Decision,” Journal of Marketing Research, 28(3), 296–306.Google Scholar
Ruegger, Durwood and King, Ernest W. (1992), “A Study of the Effect of Age and Gender upon Student Business Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics, 11 (3), 179–186.Google Scholar
Serwinek, Paul J. (1992), “Demographic and Related Differences in Ethical Views Among Small Businesses,” Journal of Business Ethics, 11 (7), 555–566.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, P. J. (1982) “The Expected Utility Model: Its Variants, Purposes, Evidence and Limitations,” Journal of Economic Literature, 30 (June), 529–63.Google Scholar
Singhapakdi, Anusorn and Vitell, Scott J. (1990), “Marketing Ethics: Factors Influencing Perceptions of Ethical Problems and Alternatives,” Journal of Macromarketing, Spring, 4–18.Google Scholar
Skipper, Robert and Hyman, Michael R. (1993), “On Measuring Ethical Judgments,” Journal of Business Ethics 12 (7), 535–545.Google Scholar
Stead, W. Edward, Worrell, Dan L., and Jean, Garner Stead (1990), “An Integrative Model for Understanding and Managing Ethical Behavior in Business Organizations,” Journal of Business Ethics, 9, 233–242.Google Scholar
Stephens, Carroll U. and Lewin, Arie Y. (1991), “Bounded Morality: A Cross-Level Model of the Determinants of Ethical Choice in Organizations,” Paper presented to the International Association of Business and Society.Google Scholar
Trevino, Linda Klebe (1986), “Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Interactionist Model,” Academy of Management Review, 11 (3), 601–617.Google Scholar
Trevino, Linda Klebe and Youngblood, Stuart A. (1990), “Bad Apples in Bad Barrels: A Causal Analysis of Ethical Decision-Making Behavior,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 75 (4), 378–85.Google Scholar
Trevino, Linda Klebe (1992), “Experimental Approaches to Studying Ethical-Unethical Behavior in Organizations,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 2 (2), 121–36.Google Scholar
Tsalikis, John and Nwachukwu, Osita (1988), “Cross-Cultural Business Ethics: Ethical Beliefs Difference between Blacks and Whites,” Journal of Business Ethics, 7, 745–754.Google Scholar
Tsalikis, John and Nwachukwu, Osita (1991), “A Comparison of Nigerian to American Views of Bribery and Extortion in International Commerce,” Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 85–98.Google Scholar
Von Neumann, John and Morgenstern, Oscar (1947), The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wahn, Judy (1993), “Organizational Dependence and the Likelihood of Complying with Organizational Pressures to Behave Unethically,” Journal of Business Ethics, 12 (3), 245–251.Google Scholar
Weber, James (1991), “Adapting Kohlberg to Enhance the Assessment of Manager’s Moral Reasoning,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 1 (3), 293–313.Google Scholar
Weber, James (1990), “Managers’ Moral Reasoning: Assessing Their Responses to Three Moral Dilemmas,” Human Relations, 43 (7), 687–702.Google Scholar
Weber, James and Green, Sharon (1992), “Principled Moral Reasoning: Is It a Viable Approach to Promote Ethical Integrity?,” Journal of Business Ethics, 10(5), 325–333.Google Scholar
Yates, J. Frank and Zukowski, Lisa G. (1975), The Anatomy and Consequences of Ambiguity in Decision Making (Tech. Rep. MMPP 75–2), Ann Arbor MI: Michigan Mathematical Psychology Program, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Zey-Ferrell, Mary, Mark Weaver, K. and Ferrell, O.C. (1979), “Predicting Unethical Behavior Among Marketing Practitioners,” Human Relations, 32 (7), 557–69.Google Scholar