The purpose of the study is to identify perception of doctors and pharmacists on drug promotion practices adopted by pharmaceutical representatives. Material and Methods: A total of 72 pharmacists and 65 doctors responded to a questionnaire about their perceptions on drug promotion practices by pharmaceutical representatives, both in relation to pharmacists and doctors in the relationship. Variables such as age, work environment, seniority, were considered. Of all pharmacists who responded to the questionnaire, a percentage of 47.8% say they have no (...) information about the existence of an ethical code of the pharmaceutical company, and 52.1% believe that there is such a code. Pharmacists estimated that over 75% of pharmaceutical representatives promote clearly the products; the information provided is accurate, complete and balanced enough to compete. Meanwhile, the percent estimated by doctors is 73%. Informal gifts are more often offered to doctors, in both category’s opinion. Conclusion: medical doctors have a more positive evaluation about pharmaceutical representative’s attitude than pharmacists. (shrink)

This study explores the direct and interactive effects of individual differences in interpersonal trust and negotiation style on ethical decision-making processes across commonly faced negotiation situations. Individual differences influence basic ideas about legitimate negotiating behaviors, affect behavioral intentions directly, and interact with the favorability of negotiating situations, resulting in direct, indirect, and interactive effects on ethical decision-making processes. Using a sample of 298 participants in executive education workshops, the study analyzes the relationship between interpersonal trust, competitiveness, moral judgment, and behavioral (...) intentions in different negotiating conditions through a series of structural equation models and regression analyses. Our results suggest that individual difference variables exert a significant influence not only on how managers assess the morality of ethically ambiguous negotiation practices but also directly on their behavioral intentions, and that this effect changed across specific negotiation situations. We discuss these results in terms of their usefulness in explaining ethical decision-making processes in negotiations. (shrink)

The growth in international trade in recent years necessitates a better understanding of customs and expectations in cross-cultural negotiations. While several researchers have sought to examine and detail the similarities and differences between select countries, their data have generally been obtained under neutral or unspecified negotiating conditions. However, issue importance, opponent (prowess, ethical reputation), and context (location, confederate awareness, urgency) can play a significant role in the use of negotiating tactics. This paper describes a study comparing the perceptions of one (...) hundred and forty-two current and future business professionals from two emerging trade partners, Brazil and the United States, regarding the appropriateness and likely use of five categories of negotiation tactics under seven challenging or unfavorable negotiating conditions commonly faced by negotiators. The results indicate an overall conditional effect for both attitudes (perceived appropriateness) and intentions (likelihood of use). In addition, while no significant difference in perceived appropriateness was found due to country, there were differences in likely use due to country for six conditions-behaviors. (shrink)

Ethical decision theory may not be sufficiently well developed to furnish reliable guidelines to people involved in complex decision making that involves conflict between ethical considerations and business imperatives such as making a profit. In conditions of ethical uncertainty hindsight bias may occur, and this study reports on an exploration of hindsight bias effects among participants in continuing education in business programmes. Perceptions of business ethics were found to differ among groups within the sample depending on what they thought had (...) been the outcome of the ethical decision concerned. (shrink)

This article addresses the two main obstacles — ignorance and conflict — that block the pathway to ethically proper conduct, both generally in business and specifically in marketing. It begins with a brief examination of theories of the moral good which emphasizes the Greco-Roman humanistic tradition and the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. A professional code of ethics, such as the code of the American Marketing Association, is meaningful only if human beings are regarded as making moral judgments that, objectively speaking, are (...) morally wrong, that is only when the code is considered a set of moral absolutes.Following that, the question of ignorance is dealt with utilizing the American Marketing Association code of ethics. The specific items in that code are related to the three central principles of economic justice: equivalence, contributive justice, and distributive justice. In the second section, the question of conflict is encountered in the context of four other ethical principles — double effect, culpability, good end and bad means, self-determination — that are likely to be helpful in dealing with two cases that are especially instructive because they are limiting cases: the dilemma and the hard case. The role of the hero or champion in conflicts is underscored. (shrink)

This study explores the relationship between individual birthplace [rural birthplace (RB) and urban birthplace (UB)] and consumer unethical behavior (CUB). As a result, CUB is verified to closely relate to individual birthplace, and those new urban residents with RB are found to behave more ethically than the patrimonial urban residents with UB in CUB4 (“no harm/no foul”). This study also finds that the differentiation of CUB between two categories of consumers is correlated with the personal moral ideology or Machiavellianism (MA) (...) functioning with varying degree, which idealism ideology is a main variable impacting on the unethical behaviors of the members born in the rural subculture while MA for those in the urban one. Additionally, the “no harm/no foul” (CUB4) and the “actively benefiting from a questionable action” (CUB3) in the list of CUBs are found to be more efficient in discriminating the two groups than the other two kinds, the “passively benefiting at the expense of others” (CUB2) and the “actively benefiting from an illegal activity” (CUB1). The results shed light on the roles of individual birthplace in influencing CUB and contribute to a better understanding on the effects of subculture on CUB. (shrink)

This paper investigates the regulation of ethical behavior of professionals. Ethical perceptions of South African professionals operating in the business community (specifically accountants, lawyers and engineers) concerning their need for and awareness of professional codes, and the frequency and acceptability of peer contravention of such codes were sought. The existence of conflict between corporate codes and professional codes was also investigated. Results, based on 217 replies, indicated that the professionals believe that codes are necessary and are relatively aware of the (...) contents of such codes. Despite these ethical tendencies, respondents (particularly lawyers) believe that their peers contravene their professional codes relatively often. No significant differences in ethical tendencies between professionals consulting to and those working in business were found. Many respondents were regulated by more than one code of ethics, but few experienced conflict between such codes. In the events of conflict occurring professionals chose to adhere to their professional code above others. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to explore job performance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) from an ethical perceptive. A great number of studies have extensively discussed the link between M&A and performance; however, most focused on the financial functions and strategy selections. Although ethical issues emerge in the M&A process, it is a less studied area. This study adopted the structural equation modeling approach to empirically test our hypotheses. Based on 264 samples from financial companies, data analyses indicated that ethical (...) conduct in M&A is significantly correlated with employee job performance. Ensuring employment security and caring practices can significantly explain organizational commitment. Organizational commitment also plays a significant mediating role between a company’s ethical conduct and employee job performance. Managerial implications are also provided. (shrink)