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Moral philosophers and marketing ethicists generally agree that variations in moral judgements exist between different cultures. Compares American marketers with Thai marketers with respect to their moral philoso‐phies, ethical perceptions, and ethical judgements. The results based on a survey of members of the American Marketing Association and the Thai Marketing Association indicate that American marketers are both less idealistic and less relativistic than Thai marketers. In addition, the survey results reveal that American marketers differ from Thai marketers with respect to their perceptions of ethical problems, and ethical judgements.

Examines whether internal auditors and management accountants have different personal ethical philosophies. Also examines the possible presence of intervening variables such as personal (i.e. age, gender, experience, education, professional certification and salary) or environmental factors (i.e. industry and corporate ethical environment). Data were obtained from questionnaires returned by 474 internal auditors (47.4 per cent response rate) and 558 management accountants (37.2 per cent response rate) located in the southeastern United States. The results indicate that significant differences exist between the ethical philosophies of internal auditors and management accountants. Of the other factors tested, only corporate ethical environment was found to be related to the ethical philosophies of the respondents.

Examines the influence which the Institute of Internal Auditors′ Code of Ethics has on its members′ ethical perceptions. Also determines whether this influence is greater than members′ personal moral philosophies (i.e. idealism and relativism), and corporate ethical values. Data for the study were obtained by questionnaires sent to 1,000 members of the Institute of Internal Auditors, located in the Southeastern United States. The results generally indicate that professional values, as operationalized by the members′ use of the code of ethics, influence their perceptions of ethical problems in a positive way. However, no significant linkages were found to exist between the internal auditors′ personal moral philosophies or corporate ethical values and their perceptions of ethical problems.

Analyzes how consumers make decisions involving ethical issues. In particular, investigates the extent to which consumers rely on ethical norms (deontology) versus the perceived consequences of behaviors (teleology) in forming their ethical judgments and in determining behavioral intentions in situations involving ethical issues. The results based upon three studies, including a national sample of adult consumers, reveal that consumers tend to rely primarily on ethical norms and less on perceived consequences in forming ethical judgments. Results also indicate that consumers, to a large degree, rely primarily on ethical norms in determining their behavioral intentions in situations involving ethical issues. Finally, a number of personal characteristics were tested as moderating variables, but results were generally inconclusive, despite some evidence that education and religiosity may be moderators.

A model is presented that explains how importers' perceptions of five aspects of their relationship with an exporter (trust, dependence, cooperation, satisfaction, and commitment) are related at any point in time. The structure‐conduct‐outcomes and relationship marketing literature in distribution channels provides the theoretical background for the model. Specifically, this study investigates whether a model based on studies carried out mainly in the US and in a Western setting applies in the Eastern setting of Korea. Further, whether differences exist in the relationship structures of importers when the exporters are from a similar cultures as opposed to dissimilar cultures is investigated. Results based on data from 198 Korean importers indicate that the model is supported. However, there are no differences in the relationship structures between exporters from similar and dissimilar cultures. Managerial implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are also offered.

Given the in creasing globalisation of economies, a growing number of marketing firms are expecting more of their profits to be derived from international sales. However, failure to account for or understand the effects of differences in consumers' cultural values on decision‐making will hinder a marketer's efforts to expand internationally. Using samples of Middle‐eastern and US consumers, the study found cultural values and consumer ethical beliefs to be significantly different between the two groups. In addition, these cultural values explained a significant part of the variation in consumer ethical beliefs in both cultures.

This paper is a general review contextualising the current debate on ethics and international marketing. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of historical and current trends as a background for this special issue edition of International Marketing Review focusing on international marketing ethics.

The paper examines how ethics in international marketing have evolved and progressed towards the current “ethics era” and presents discussion surrounding the role and value of an ethical approach towards marketing in a global marketplace.

Essentially the paper argues that marketers should creatively embrace the complex challenges of the international marketplace by rethinking their approach to marketing ethics.

Gives an overview of the special issue.

In the debate whether ethics should be separated from religion or otherwise, few have investigated the impact of religious beliefs and ethical ideologies on consumer ethics. Thus, the purpose of this study to investigate the influence of consumers’ religion, moral philosophy and generational cohort on their perception toward various consumers’ ethical behavior practices.

The study uses sample from three different cohorts (Generation Y, Generation X and Baby boomers) in Australia. The final numbers of respondents are 251. Male and female respondents are almost equal in number (52 and 48 per cent, respectively). Most participants are single (56 per cent), and 24 per cent are married. The age cohorts are Gen-Y (70 per cent), Gen-X (16 per cent) and Baby boomers (14 per cent). In terms of religion, 46 per cent of the respondents were identified as Christian or Catholic, whereas 42 per cent reported having no religion.

The results show that religiosity had the strongest effect compared to moral ideologies and generation cohorts. It can be assumed that at least for religious consumers, when two ideas collide between religion and ethical ideologies, religious principles may supersede ethical ideologies. The study offers several implications for marketers, educators and public policy makers.

The current study has several limitations, especially the use of convenience sampling that may limit the generalizability of the findings. Consumers in Australia may behave differently from general consumers or other cohorts with regard to their ethical judgments.

This is one of the first few studies exploring consumer ethics in Australia. We may conclude that in some ethical situations, religion will supersede ethical ideologies. Accordingly, it is important not to remove religion from ethics education, especially for religious consumers.