Faculty Publications

Consumer Ethics: Determinants Of Ethical Beliefs Of African Americans

Document Type

Article

Keywords

African Americans, Consumer ethics, Ethical ideologies, Minorities ethics, Subcultures ethics

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Business Ethics

Volume

46

Issue

2

First Page

175

Last Page

186

Abstract

This study explores the ethical ideologies and ethical beliefs of African American consumers using the Forsyth ethical position questionnaire (EPQ) and the Muncy-Vitell consumer ethics questionnaire (MVQ). The two dimensions of the EPQ (i.e., idealism and relativism) were the independent constructs and the four dimensions of the MVQ (i.e., illegal, active, passive and no harm) were the dependent variables. In addition, this paper explores the consumer ethics of African Americans across four demographic factors (i.e., age, education, gender, and marital status). A sample of 315 African American consumers was used to explore these relationships. Results confirmed that consumers who score high on the idealism scale are more likely to reject questionable consumer activities, but there was no relationship between relativism and consumers' rejection of questionable activities. Older, more educated and married consumers rejected questionable activities more than younger, less educated and single consumers. Gender did not have any significant relationship to consumers' ethical orientation.

Department

Department of Marketing

Original Publication Date

8-1-2003

DOI of published version

10.1023/A:1025068902771

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