Undergraduate Student Attitudes about Hypothetical Marketing Dilemmas

This study investigated the attitudinal responses of 403 undergraduate students with respect to nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. Participants varied by gender, major, and age. It was found that undergraduate women responded more ethically on the hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas, as hypothesized. Secondly, chosen major did not make a difference on cognitive, affective, or behavioral responses. Further, the overall means for each scenario were in the morally correct direction in every case. Also, all intercorrelations for each story were significant. Finally, whenever there was a nonchance finding for age, the oldest participants answered more morally than the youngest subjects. Implications of these findings for the undergraduate curriculum and for organizational management were discussed.