Abstract

The impact of ‘‘love of money’’ on different aspects of consumers’ ethical beliefs has been investigated by previous research. In this study we investigate the potential impact of ‘‘love of money’’ on a manager’s ethical decision-making in marketing. Another objective of the current study is to investigate the potential impacts of extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity on ethical marketing decision-making. We also include ethical judgments as an element of ethical decision-making. We found ‘‘love of money’’, both dimensions of religiosity, and ethical judgment to have significant impacts on ethical intentions in a marketing situation. In addition to providing an important contribution to the business ethics literature, the findings also have important managerial implications.

Since its establishment, money has been the instrument of commerce, as well as the measure of an object’s worth (Smith 1937). In the United States, pay has always held some power over employees, and this power has increased significantly over the past few decades. For example, in 1978, men ranked pay fifth in terms of importance relative to job satisfaction, while women ranked it seventh (Jurgensen 1978). By 1990, pay ranked second in importance (Harpaz 1990), and in 2007, respondents named pay the most important factor in their job satisfaction (Ghazzawi 2008; Kickham 2007). Respondents cited three key components of their job satisfaction: ‘‘salary, 44 percent; feeling of accomplishment, 40 percent; and benefits, 23 percent. Similarly, 44 percent said higher pay would be the main reason they’d leave their current job if the opportunity arose’’ (Kickham 2007, p. 30).

Recently, researchers have examined how love of money (LOM) relates to unethical behavior. While income has not been linked to unethical activities, the LOM has been found to both directly and indirectly influence ethical behavior (Tang et al. 2002). These findings suggest that LOM could be the root cause of many corporate scandals, including those similar to Enron and Countrywide Financial (Cullen et al. 2004; Tang and Chen, 2008; Vitell et al. 2006). Although the impact of ‘‘LOM’’ on different aspects of consumers’ ethical beliefs has been investigated (e.g., Vitell et al. 2006; Vitell et al. 2008), it is somewhat surprising that no researcher has actually investigated its impact on a manager’s ethical decision-making in marketing. Thus, one objective of this study is to investigate the potential impact of ‘‘LOM’’ on ethical decision-making in marketing.