Scott J Vitell - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Scott J Vitell

Research paper thumbnail of Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Relationships with one's employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees' ... more Relationships with one's employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees' judgments and ethical perceptions have been extensively studied in Western cultures, but not in developing countries. The purpose of this investigation is to examine employees' self-reported work-related ethics and compare them to their perceptions of co-workers' and top managements' along various morally challenging situations in three developing countries' organizations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, known as the Gulf countries, were selected as the research setting-and provided the sampling frame-for this study. The results suggest that respondents perceived all ethically challenging situations as unethical and had significant differences among themselves regarding the ethical perceptions of self, as compared to perceptions of peers', and top managements'. Discussion of the results and implications are provided.

Research paper thumbnail of An Empirical Investigation of the Influence of Selected Personal, Organizational and Moral Intensity Factors on Ethical Decision Making

Journal of Business Ethics, 2002

This exploratory study of ethical decision making by individuals in organizations found moral int... more This exploratory study of ethical decision making by individuals in organizations found moral intensity, as defined by Jones (1991), to significantly influence ethical decision making intentions of managers. Moral intensity explained 37% and 53% of the variance in ethical decision making in two decision-making scenarios. In part, the results of this research support our theoretical understanding of ethical/unethical decision-making and

Research paper thumbnail of Academic Dishonesty: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Marketing Students

Journal of Marketing Education, 2004

Chinese as well as American business colleges are attempting to improve morality of their student... more Chinese as well as American business colleges are attempting to improve morality of their students due to recent scandals in both countries. This study investigates several beliefs and values, opportunism, and certain demographic variables that might contribute to the academic dishonesty of American and Chinese marketing students. The findings suggest that American marketing students who are young, tolerant, detached, relativistic, less religious, opportunistic, and negative tend to believe that academic dishonesty is more acceptable than do their counterparts exhibiting the opposite characteristics. Chinese marketing students who are male, detached, relativistic, less religious, opportunistic, and behaviorist oriented tend to perceive that academic dishonesty is more acceptable than do their counterparts. The results also reveal that the Chinese marketing students are more tolerant and detached than are the American marketing students, and they are less sensitive to the acceptance ...

Research paper thumbnail of The business ethics of pharmacists: Conflicts practices and beliefs

Journal of Business Ethics, 1991

This paper represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their views con... more This paper represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their views concerning ethical conflicts and practices. Besides identifying the sources of ethical conflicts, pharmacists were asked how ethical standards have changed over the last 10 years as well as the factors influencing these changes. Conclusions and implications are outlined and future research needs are examined.

Research paper thumbnail of Business ethics: Conflicts, practices and beliefs of industrial executives

Journal of Business Ethics, 1987

This paper presents the responses of 118 executives to a mail survey which examined their views o... more This paper presents the responses of 118 executives to a mail survey which examined their views of business ethics and various business practices. In addition to identifying various sources of ethical conflict, current business practices are also examined with respect to how ethical or unethical each is believed to be. Results are also presented which outline executive responses to four ethical business situations. Overall conclusions to the study are outlined, as well as future research needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers

Journal of Business Ethics, 1991

... Mohammed YA Raws,as is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. ... ... more ... Mohammed YA Raws,as is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. ... Additionally, since marketing is the functional area, within business, that interfaces with the consumer, it tends to come under the greatest scrutiny, generates the most controversy and ...

Research paper thumbnail of ‘The Impact of Corporate Ethical Values and Enforcement of Ethical Codes on the Perceived Importance of Ethics in Business: A Comparison of U.S. and Spanish Managers’

Journal of Business Ethics, 2006

... Thus, the two items from the original ''quality and communication'... more ... Thus, the two items from the original ''quality and communication'' dimension were eliminated. ... Additionally, the reliability of the idealism scale was 0.865 and that of the relativism scale was 0.849. Corporate ethical values/enforcement of code of ethics Hunt et al. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Inter-country differences of consumer ethics in Arab countries

International Business Review, 2005

Recent geopolitical events have placed the Arab world at the center of attention of the global st... more Recent geopolitical events have placed the Arab world at the center of attention of the global stage. Nevertheless, there are many potentially profitable opportunities in the region for interested Western firms. Today global firms and public policymakers consider the task of understanding the Arabs' mindset a major priority and a must for successfully operating in the region. Despite this heightened interest, limited effort has been made by social and behavioral scientists to study that part of the world and its people. Most of the current research is journalistic in nature and tends to treat the Arab region as monolithic rather than one that consists of different likes, attitudes and behaviors. The present study overcomes some of this shortcoming by specifically evaluating whether consumers within the Arab world differ from each other with respect to their ethical beliefs, ethical ideologies, and degree of Machiavellianism. Utilizing a sample of 683 consumers from four Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Oman), the findings suggest that Arab consumers differ significantly in their ethical beliefs and ideologies. Specific results are discussed and managerial implications are offered.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethical Attitudes of Pharmacists

Health Marketing Quarterly, 1994

This study represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their beliefs c... more This study represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their beliefs concerning various business situations involving ethical issues. Several short vignettes involving ethical issues are presented and respondents were asked whether they agreed or not with the actions described in each. Conclusions and implications are outlined as are future research needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethical judgments and intentions: a multinational study of marketing professionals

Business Ethics: A European Review, 2003

... Scott J.Vitell, Aysen Bakir, Joseph GP Paolillo, ... For exam-ple, although an individual may... more ... Scott J.Vitell, Aysen Bakir, Joseph GP Paolillo, ... For exam-ple, although an individual may judge a particular course of action as the most ethical, he/she may follow a different alternative because of some highly desirable anticipated consequence (eg, a promotion or pay raise). ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Religiosity in Business and Consumer Ethics: A Review of the Literature

Journal of Business Ethics, 2009

In 1949 Culliton noted that ''… religion has something to offer business'' (Culliton, 1949, p. 26... more In 1949 Culliton noted that ''… religion has something to offer business'' (Culliton, 1949, p. 265). While religion definitely does have something to offer business, especially business ethics, it is only recently that empirical research linking religiosity and business ethics has been conducted. Indeed, religiosity affords a background, against which the ethical nature of business, including marketing and consumer behavior, can be interpreted. This article offers a descriptive, rather than normative, perspective in reviewing articles linking religion to business and consumer ethics. The main objective of the article being both to present some of the most significant empirical findings to date and also to encourage researchers to pursue further research in this relatively under researched area.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer Ethics: The Role of Religiosity

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in... more This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs regarding various questionable consumer practices. Additionally, other personal factors were examined including idealism, relativism, consumer alienation and selected demographics such as income and age. All of these constructs were examined as antecedents of consumer ethical beliefs. The results of a post hoc analysis indicated that religiosity was a significant determinate of both idealism and relativism, and since idealism and relativism determine consumer ethical beliefs, religiosity is a significant indirect determinate of consumer ethical beliefs.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer Ethics: The Role of Religiosity

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in... more This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs regarding various questionable consumer practices. Additionally, other personal factors were examined including idealism, relativism, consumer alienation and selected demographics such as income and age. All of these constructs were examined as antecedents of consumer ethical beliefs. The results of a post hoc analysis indicated that religiosity was a significant determinate of both idealism and relativism, and since idealism and relativism determine consumer ethical beliefs, religiosity is a significant indirect determinate of consumer ethical beliefs.

Research paper thumbnail of The General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Revision and Three Questions

Journal of Macromarketing, 2006

The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing by Hunt ... more The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing by Hunt and Vitell (1986), has been the focus of much discussion and empirical testing. As a result, the theory was revised in 1993. This article overviews the 1993 revision of the model and addresses three questions that are often asked by those who use the model in the classroom and/or in research: (1) What is the justification for using normative ethical theory as a starting point for positing a positive ethical theory? (2) Is the Hunt Vitell (H-V) model a causal model, that is, is each concept in the model a construct to be measured? (3) How, specifically, can the H-V theory be used to teach marketing and business ethics?

Research paper thumbnail of The Muncy–Vitell consumer ethics scale: a modification and application

Journal of Business Ethics, 2005

This study compares college students with other adults in terms of the Muncy-Vitell (1992) consum... more This study compares college students with other adults in terms of the Muncy-Vitell (1992) consumer ethics scale. Further, the study updates the Muncy-Vitell consumer ethics scale with modifications that include rewording and the addition of new items. These new items can be grouped into three distinct categories-(1) downloading/buying counterfeit goods, (2) recycling/environmental awareness and (3) doing the right thing/doing good. The study also compares these two groups in terms of their attitude toward business. Results show that there is indeed a significant difference between these two groups in terms of ethical perceptions, but not in terms of the ''recycling'' items and the ''doing good'' items. There was also little difference between the groups in terms of their attitude toward business indicating that attitude toward business does not explain their different ethical perspectives.

Research paper thumbnail of A general theory of marketing ethics

Journal of Macromarketing, 1986

Almost all the theoretical efforts in the area of marketing ethics have been normative, not posit... more Almost all the theoretical efforts in the area of marketing ethics have been normative, not positive. Th1at is, almost all theoretical works have focused on developing guidelines or rules to assist marketers in their efforts to behave in an ethical fashion. In contrast, the model developed in this article is descriptive, not prescriptive. It attempts to explain the decision-making process for problem situations having ethical con-tent. The article begins with a discussion and evaluation of the two major normative ethical theories in moral philosophy. deontological theories and teleological theories. Although these theories are normative, to the extent that people actually follow their prescriptions, any positive theory of marketing ethics must incorporate them. The article then develops a positive theory of marketing ethics and uses that theory to help explain some of the empirical research that has been conducted in the area of marketing ethics

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Shelby D. Hunt Marketing Theory: Foundations, Controversy, Strategy, Resource-Advantage Theory Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. 490 pp. $109.95. ISBN 978-0-7656-2363-8

Journal of Macromarketing, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics and social responsibility in marketing: an examination of the ethical evaluation of …

Journal of Business Research, 1997

ELSEVIER Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation ... more ELSEVIER Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation of Advertising Strategies Saviour LS Nwachukwu Southern University and A & M College Scott J. Vitell, Jr. University of Mississippi ...

Research paper thumbnail of A cross-cultural investigation of the ethical values of consumers: the potential effect of war and civil disruption

Journal of Business Ethics, 1998

Research paper thumbnail of A cross-cultural investigation of the ethical values of consumers: the potential effect of war and civil disruption

Journal of Business Ethics, 1998

Research paper thumbnail of Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Relationships with one's employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees' ... more Relationships with one's employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees' judgments and ethical perceptions have been extensively studied in Western cultures, but not in developing countries. The purpose of this investigation is to examine employees' self-reported work-related ethics and compare them to their perceptions of co-workers' and top managements' along various morally challenging situations in three developing countries' organizations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, known as the Gulf countries, were selected as the research setting-and provided the sampling frame-for this study. The results suggest that respondents perceived all ethically challenging situations as unethical and had significant differences among themselves regarding the ethical perceptions of self, as compared to perceptions of peers', and top managements'. Discussion of the results and implications are provided.

Research paper thumbnail of An Empirical Investigation of the Influence of Selected Personal, Organizational and Moral Intensity Factors on Ethical Decision Making

Journal of Business Ethics, 2002

This exploratory study of ethical decision making by individuals in organizations found moral int... more This exploratory study of ethical decision making by individuals in organizations found moral intensity, as defined by Jones (1991), to significantly influence ethical decision making intentions of managers. Moral intensity explained 37% and 53% of the variance in ethical decision making in two decision-making scenarios. In part, the results of this research support our theoretical understanding of ethical/unethical decision-making and

Research paper thumbnail of Academic Dishonesty: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Marketing Students

Journal of Marketing Education, 2004

Chinese as well as American business colleges are attempting to improve morality of their student... more Chinese as well as American business colleges are attempting to improve morality of their students due to recent scandals in both countries. This study investigates several beliefs and values, opportunism, and certain demographic variables that might contribute to the academic dishonesty of American and Chinese marketing students. The findings suggest that American marketing students who are young, tolerant, detached, relativistic, less religious, opportunistic, and negative tend to believe that academic dishonesty is more acceptable than do their counterparts exhibiting the opposite characteristics. Chinese marketing students who are male, detached, relativistic, less religious, opportunistic, and behaviorist oriented tend to perceive that academic dishonesty is more acceptable than do their counterparts. The results also reveal that the Chinese marketing students are more tolerant and detached than are the American marketing students, and they are less sensitive to the acceptance ...

Research paper thumbnail of The business ethics of pharmacists: Conflicts practices and beliefs

Journal of Business Ethics, 1991

This paper represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their views con... more This paper represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their views concerning ethical conflicts and practices. Besides identifying the sources of ethical conflicts, pharmacists were asked how ethical standards have changed over the last 10 years as well as the factors influencing these changes. Conclusions and implications are outlined and future research needs are examined.

Research paper thumbnail of Business ethics: Conflicts, practices and beliefs of industrial executives

Journal of Business Ethics, 1987

This paper presents the responses of 118 executives to a mail survey which examined their views o... more This paper presents the responses of 118 executives to a mail survey which examined their views of business ethics and various business practices. In addition to identifying various sources of ethical conflict, current business practices are also examined with respect to how ethical or unethical each is believed to be. Results are also presented which outline executive responses to four ethical business situations. Overall conclusions to the study are outlined, as well as future research needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of elderly consumers

Journal of Business Ethics, 1991

... Mohammed YA Raws,as is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. ... ... more ... Mohammed YA Raws,as is a doctoral student of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. ... Additionally, since marketing is the functional area, within business, that interfaces with the consumer, it tends to come under the greatest scrutiny, generates the most controversy and ...

Research paper thumbnail of ‘The Impact of Corporate Ethical Values and Enforcement of Ethical Codes on the Perceived Importance of Ethics in Business: A Comparison of U.S. and Spanish Managers’

Journal of Business Ethics, 2006

... Thus, the two items from the original ''quality and communication'... more ... Thus, the two items from the original ''quality and communication'' dimension were eliminated. ... Additionally, the reliability of the idealism scale was 0.865 and that of the relativism scale was 0.849. Corporate ethical values/enforcement of code of ethics Hunt et al. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Inter-country differences of consumer ethics in Arab countries

International Business Review, 2005

Recent geopolitical events have placed the Arab world at the center of attention of the global st... more Recent geopolitical events have placed the Arab world at the center of attention of the global stage. Nevertheless, there are many potentially profitable opportunities in the region for interested Western firms. Today global firms and public policymakers consider the task of understanding the Arabs' mindset a major priority and a must for successfully operating in the region. Despite this heightened interest, limited effort has been made by social and behavioral scientists to study that part of the world and its people. Most of the current research is journalistic in nature and tends to treat the Arab region as monolithic rather than one that consists of different likes, attitudes and behaviors. The present study overcomes some of this shortcoming by specifically evaluating whether consumers within the Arab world differ from each other with respect to their ethical beliefs, ethical ideologies, and degree of Machiavellianism. Utilizing a sample of 683 consumers from four Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Oman), the findings suggest that Arab consumers differ significantly in their ethical beliefs and ideologies. Specific results are discussed and managerial implications are offered.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethical Attitudes of Pharmacists

Health Marketing Quarterly, 1994

This study represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their beliefs c... more This study represents the responses of 377 pharmacists to a mail survey examining their beliefs concerning various business situations involving ethical issues. Several short vignettes involving ethical issues are presented and respondents were asked whether they agreed or not with the actions described in each. Conclusions and implications are outlined as are future research needs.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethical judgments and intentions: a multinational study of marketing professionals

Business Ethics: A European Review, 2003

... Scott J.Vitell, Aysen Bakir, Joseph GP Paolillo, ... For exam-ple, although an individual may... more ... Scott J.Vitell, Aysen Bakir, Joseph GP Paolillo, ... For exam-ple, although an individual may judge a particular course of action as the most ethical, he/she may follow a different alternative because of some highly desirable anticipated consequence (eg, a promotion or pay raise). ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Religiosity in Business and Consumer Ethics: A Review of the Literature

Journal of Business Ethics, 2009

In 1949 Culliton noted that ''… religion has something to offer business'' (Culliton, 1949, p. 26... more In 1949 Culliton noted that ''… religion has something to offer business'' (Culliton, 1949, p. 265). While religion definitely does have something to offer business, especially business ethics, it is only recently that empirical research linking religiosity and business ethics has been conducted. Indeed, religiosity affords a background, against which the ethical nature of business, including marketing and consumer behavior, can be interpreted. This article offers a descriptive, rather than normative, perspective in reviewing articles linking religion to business and consumer ethics. The main objective of the article being both to present some of the most significant empirical findings to date and also to encourage researchers to pursue further research in this relatively under researched area.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer Ethics: The Role of Religiosity

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in... more This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs regarding various questionable consumer practices. Additionally, other personal factors were examined including idealism, relativism, consumer alienation and selected demographics such as income and age. All of these constructs were examined as antecedents of consumer ethical beliefs. The results of a post hoc analysis indicated that religiosity was a significant determinate of both idealism and relativism, and since idealism and relativism determine consumer ethical beliefs, religiosity is a significant indirect determinate of consumer ethical beliefs.

Research paper thumbnail of Consumer Ethics: The Role of Religiosity

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in... more This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs regarding various questionable consumer practices. Additionally, other personal factors were examined including idealism, relativism, consumer alienation and selected demographics such as income and age. All of these constructs were examined as antecedents of consumer ethical beliefs. The results of a post hoc analysis indicated that religiosity was a significant determinate of both idealism and relativism, and since idealism and relativism determine consumer ethical beliefs, religiosity is a significant indirect determinate of consumer ethical beliefs.

Research paper thumbnail of The General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Revision and Three Questions

Journal of Macromarketing, 2006

The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing by Hunt ... more The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing by Hunt and Vitell (1986), has been the focus of much discussion and empirical testing. As a result, the theory was revised in 1993. This article overviews the 1993 revision of the model and addresses three questions that are often asked by those who use the model in the classroom and/or in research: (1) What is the justification for using normative ethical theory as a starting point for positing a positive ethical theory? (2) Is the Hunt Vitell (H-V) model a causal model, that is, is each concept in the model a construct to be measured? (3) How, specifically, can the H-V theory be used to teach marketing and business ethics?

Research paper thumbnail of The Muncy–Vitell consumer ethics scale: a modification and application

Journal of Business Ethics, 2005

This study compares college students with other adults in terms of the Muncy-Vitell (1992) consum... more This study compares college students with other adults in terms of the Muncy-Vitell (1992) consumer ethics scale. Further, the study updates the Muncy-Vitell consumer ethics scale with modifications that include rewording and the addition of new items. These new items can be grouped into three distinct categories-(1) downloading/buying counterfeit goods, (2) recycling/environmental awareness and (3) doing the right thing/doing good. The study also compares these two groups in terms of their attitude toward business. Results show that there is indeed a significant difference between these two groups in terms of ethical perceptions, but not in terms of the ''recycling'' items and the ''doing good'' items. There was also little difference between the groups in terms of their attitude toward business indicating that attitude toward business does not explain their different ethical perspectives.

Research paper thumbnail of A general theory of marketing ethics

Journal of Macromarketing, 1986

Almost all the theoretical efforts in the area of marketing ethics have been normative, not posit... more Almost all the theoretical efforts in the area of marketing ethics have been normative, not positive. Th1at is, almost all theoretical works have focused on developing guidelines or rules to assist marketers in their efforts to behave in an ethical fashion. In contrast, the model developed in this article is descriptive, not prescriptive. It attempts to explain the decision-making process for problem situations having ethical con-tent. The article begins with a discussion and evaluation of the two major normative ethical theories in moral philosophy. deontological theories and teleological theories. Although these theories are normative, to the extent that people actually follow their prescriptions, any positive theory of marketing ethics must incorporate them. The article then develops a positive theory of marketing ethics and uses that theory to help explain some of the empirical research that has been conducted in the area of marketing ethics

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Shelby D. Hunt Marketing Theory: Foundations, Controversy, Strategy, Resource-Advantage Theory Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. 490 pp. $109.95. ISBN 978-0-7656-2363-8

Journal of Macromarketing, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics and social responsibility in marketing: an examination of the ethical evaluation of …

Journal of Business Research, 1997

ELSEVIER Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation ... more ELSEVIER Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation of Advertising Strategies Saviour LS Nwachukwu Southern University and A & M College Scott J. Vitell, Jr. University of Mississippi ...

Research paper thumbnail of A cross-cultural investigation of the ethical values of consumers: the potential effect of war and civil disruption

Journal of Business Ethics, 1998

Research paper thumbnail of A cross-cultural investigation of the ethical values of consumers: the potential effect of war and civil disruption

Journal of Business Ethics, 1998