Ethical Decision Making: Panama–United States Differences in Consumer and Marketing Contexts

ABSTRACT

Results show that significant differences, both statistical and practical, exist between Panamanians and U.S. nationals in how they intend to behave in various consumption-related and marketing-related ethical situations. As cross-national marketing increases, the need to understand marketing and consumer ethics across countries becomes more critical. Additionally, as Robertson, Brady, and Hoffman (2001) point out, there has been a genuine lack of emphasis in the marketing-related ethics literature in Latin America. This study partially addresses that need by examining and contrasting the intended behaviors in ethical situations of Panamanians and Americans as consumers and marketers. The study contributes to marketing ethics knowledge on several fronts: (i) increasing understanding of ethics of Panamanians in consumer and marketing contexts, (ii) adding to the extant cross-country literature in the area of ethical decision making by consumers, and (iii) incorporating effect sizes, which is very rarely reported, to complement the significance values. Results show that significant differences exist between Panamanians and U.S. nationals in how they intend to behave in various consumption-related and marketing-related ethical situations. Managerial implications are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-national
• Panama
• ethics
• consumer
• marketing
• intended behavior
• gender
• effectsize

The authors express their appreciation for the help rendered by David Marshall in the preparation of this manuscript.

Notes

∗U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, (124th ed.), Washington, DC, 2005.

∗∗U.S. Department of State, Background Notes-Panama: 2008 Washington, DC, 2008.

∗∗∗Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis 2008.

∗Figures in parentheses are column percentages.

∗∗Total includes respondents who did not declare their gender.

∗Figures in parentheses are the percentage of respondents within the country who chose a particular decision choice.

∗Figures in parentheses are the percentage of respondents within the country who chose a particular decision choice.