Microcultural Differences and Perceived Ethical Problems: An International Business Perspective

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The article discusses the micro-cultural differences on perceived ethical problems .The article identifies the relationship between perceived ethical problems and value orientation shown in the Hunt and Vitell’s (1993) General Marketing Ethics. The Hunt and Vitell’s model addresses the situation where a manager deals with a specific problem with an alleged ethical dilemma .The model proposes that the problem is affected by 4 main constructs which are cultural environment, industry environment, organisational environment and personal characteristics leading to the development of a set of alternatives to solve the problem then two kind of evaluations will take place, deontological and teleological. The study was conducted in this article was conducted in Indonesia which a multi ethnic country there are more than three hundred ethnic groups, each with each having its own language, cultural tradition, social structure, and its ethnic identity this plays an important role in the study  because  each micro culture may perceive ethical problems differently. The purpose of this study was to empirically spread the Hunt and Vitell model to examine the significance of micro cultures on professed ethical problems and the study also tested the hypothetical relationship between personal value orientations as stated in the Hunt and Vitell’s (1993) model. The judgemental sampling technique was used and a mail survey was also used to enable the researcher to reach the managers in extensive regions. The results from the model indicates concludes two things .The first one is that Religious Value Orientation is positively related to the perceived ethical problem scores and lastly they are significant differences amongst the three ethic micro cultural groups relative to their perceived ethical problem scores.

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Monash Library Details

 * Authors:
 * Sarwono, Slamet S.1 Armstrong, Robert W.2


 * Source:
 * Journal of Business Ethics. Mar2001 Part 1, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p41-56. 16p. 3 Charts.


 * Document Type:
 * Article


 * Geographic Terms:
 * Indonesia


 * NAICS/Industry Codes:
 * 624310 Vocational Rehabilitation Services


 * Abstract:
 * This study examines the importance of microcultural differences on perceived  ethical  problems . This study also sought to identify the relationship between perceived  ethical  problems and value orientations as shown in the Hunt and Vitell's (1993) General Theory of Marketing Ethics. The data was collected from 173 Javanese, 128 Batak, and 170 Indonesian-Chinese marketing managers in Indonesia. The results indicate that, (1) Religious Value Orientation is positively related to the perceived  ethical  problems scores, and (2) there are significant differences among the three ethnic microcultural groups relative to their perceived  ethical  problems scores. These results imply that acculturation training program for expatriates should include aspects of microcultures and ethical perceptions held by the local managers. The establishment of ethical corporate culture and formalised codes of conduct are recommended for future ethics training.
 * Author Affiliations:
 * 1Faculty of Economics, The University of Atma Jaya Yogyakarta (UAJY) 2School of Business, Murdoch University
 * 1Faculty of Economics, The University of Atma Jaya Yogyakarta (UAJY) 2School of Business, Murdoch University


 * ISSN:
 * 0167-4544


 * Accession Number:
 * 12130942