Faculty Publications

Consumer Ethics: An Empirical Investigation Of The Ethical Beliefs Of Austrian Consumers

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Business Ethics

Volume

15

Issue

9

First Page

1009

Last Page

1019

Abstract

Business and Marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. In addition, no study has examined the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers even though Austria maintains a unique status of political neutrality, nonalignment, stability, economic prosperity and geographical proximity to the East-and West-European countries. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical ideology and ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers. The results indicate that Austrian consumers are mostly "situationists" who, while rejecting moral rules, judge the ethics of a behavior by the consequences and outcomes of the situation.

Department

Department of Marketing

Original Publication Date

1-1-1996

DOI of published version

10.1007/BF00705579

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