Ethics in advertising: differences in industry values and student perceptions.

Keith, Nancy K. ; Pettijohn, Charles E. ; Burnett, Melissa S. 等

INTRODUCTION

College students represent the employees and executives of tomorrow. Therefore it is likely the ethical perceptions and standards students bring to their new jobs will largely influence their behaviors as advertisers. Knowledge of their ethical perceptions, as students, should provide insights into what eventually could be their behaviors in the world of business. Based on this assumption, the purpose of this research is to empirically compare the ethical perceptions of college advertising students with the ethical perceptions of advertising executives to determine the base point from which future employers will have to work.

This type of research is important because the public's ethical perceptions of business people in general, and marketers in particular, are generally quite low. Studies have found that business executives were rated among the lowest ranked professional categories in terms of their images (Lantos, 1999; Luther et al., 1997; Wulfson, 1998). Furthermore, Sales and Marketing Management (2005) reports the results of a survey showing only 17% of Americans trust business leaders of major corporations. The negative consequences of unethical business activities, with regard to their impact on investors and customers, have been discussed by many scholars and business practitioners (Lantos, 1999; Schwepker, 1999; Trease et al., 1994).

Most research has discovered that firms which are perceived as being unethical are less profitable, have negative customer attitudes to overcome, etc. The same holds true with regard to the effect of unethical perceptions of corporate behavior on the corporation's investors (Lantos, 1999; Trease et al., 1994). As investors lose confidence in business, they become less likely to invest their savings in those businesses, which in turn increases the cost of capital to the business, resulting in financial challenges. While many firms have huge public relations departments and advertising budgets charged with elevating businesses' public image, many discover their investments are either wasted or too small to rectify ethical lapses their firms have experienced. Thus, unethical behaviors have been shown to have numerous deleterious outcomes for businesses as they relate to their customers and investors (Lantos, 1999; Mantel, 2005; Schwepker, 1999).

Businesses should care what their employees think because employee perceptions can influence employee behaviors. While one could argue that a business or businesses in general should behave ethically to establish goodwill with their customers and with investors, the argument could be advanced that ethical business behavior may also create positive outcomes with regard to the firm's employees (Sales and Marketing Management, 2006).

According to research, an individual's general attitudes may lead one to reject certain careers due to their perceptions of the roles they will play (Sparkes and Johlke, 1996) or face cognitive dissonance in their roles, leading to dissatisfaction (McFarland, 2003). Hunt and Chonko (1987) conclude that an employee's ethical problems with his/her employer negatively affect his/her relationships with co-workers and performance. A current assessment of the attitudes of marketing students are important, as universities have made efforts to emphasize the importance of ethics. Nearly every course offered in the marketing curriculum contains an "ethics module." Has this module affected the ethical perceptions of marketing students? Do marketing students believe that "good ethics is good business?" How do these marketing students' perceptions relate to the perceptions of advertising practitioners? Do perceptions vary based on gender? Experience? These questions are addressed in this research.

RELATED RESEARCH

Business ethics are critical factors from a manager's perspective. The critical nature of ethics is not solely based on the societal implications of ethical behavior, but ethical concerns are also based on their economic and business implications. This argument leads to the conclusion that the ethical behaviors of a business are critical managerial problems and management should have a leading role in promoting ethical behaviors (Chonko et al, 2002; Hunt and Chonko, 1987). Studies of ethical behavior in organizations have tended to focus on employee characteristics as determinants of ethical behavior. The variables assessed have included gender, age, education, work experience, etc. Much of the research in this particular area has provided inconsistent findings with regard to whether a particular demographic subcategory of individuals is particularly prone to behaving either more or less ethically. For example, one study found no differences in respondent beliefs about specific ethical situations and the age, experience, or job tenure of the respondents (Dubinsky and Levy, 1985). Another research effort uncovered no relationship between education, gender, experience and ethical perceptions. In this research effort, only age was significantly related to ethical perceptions (Dubinsky et al., 1992). The discovery of age as a possible influence of ethical behavior was supported in a separate study finding business executives responded more ethically to a survey than did students. In this particular study, gender was found to have no significant impact on ethical behavioral intentions (Harris and Sutton, 1995). Other research has continued to indicate that no significant differences exist between ethical perceptions and geographical locale, academic discipline or class, work experience (DuPont and Craig, 1996), or gender (Jones and Kavanagh, 1996; Singhapakdi and Vitell, 1990).

Jones and Kavanaugh (1996) contend that ethical intentions will be lower when the perceived quality of the work experience is low. This suggests that a relationship might exist between the person's job satisfaction and their perceptions of the ethical behaviors of the business. Similarly, an individual's attitude toward his/her employer's ethics should have a significant influence on his/her job satisfaction. Such an argument would logically contend that if one works for an employer that is perceived as unethical, then that person's job satisfaction levels would likely be low, as he/she might feel guilty or ashamed to be working for a firm that has low ethical standards. In support of this position, Hunt and Chonko (1987) conclude that an employee's ethical problems with his/her employer negatively affected relationships with co-workers and performance.

Valentine and Barnett (2003), suggest that a relationship exists between employee perceptions of their employer's ethical values and their organizational commitment. They contend that employees prefer ethical companies for which to work. Jones and Kavanagh (1996) contend the behavior of both an employee's managers and peers can be directed in a way to improve ethical behavior. Given these arguments, researchers have concluded that firms should focus more on using ethical character as a criterion in the hiring process (Lantos, 1999; Schwepker, 1999).

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Given that the behaviors of advertising employees are critical to the success of the firm, six hypotheses were developed to examine the ethical perceptions of current and future advertising employees. To determine if experienced advertising professionals differ in their perceptions from students who will soon become advertising professionals, the first two hypotheses compare agency personnel and student ethical perceptions and their perceived likelihood of engaging in unethical advertising behaviors. Because it is generally held that females and males have differing views concerning ethical behavior (Galbraith and Stephenson, 1993), the third and fourth hypotheses examine the effect of gender on agency personnel and student ethical perceptions and the perceived likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors. The remaining two hypotheses were constructed to examine whether the ethical perceptions of male and female advertising agency employees remain stable over the course of their careers. More specifically, hypotheses five and six examine whether for agency personnel length of employment in advertising is related to ethical perceptions and their perceived likelihood of engaging in unethical advertising behaviors. The six hypotheses concerning agency personnel and student perceptions are:

H1: Advertising professionals' ethical perceptions differ from those of students. H2: Advertising professionals' perceived likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors differs from that of students. H3: For advertising professionals and students, gender affects ethical perceptions. H4: For advertising professionals and students, gender affects the perceived likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors. H5: Gender and length of employment in advertising are related to the ethical perceptions of advertising professionals. H6: Gender and length of employment in advertising are related to advertising professionals' perceived likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors.

METHODOLOGY

The first step in the research process involved specifying a study sample that included both current and future advertising professionals. Forty employees at several large advertising agencies were selected for inclusion in the study and comprised the sample of current advertising professionals. Employees from both the account and creative sides of the agencies as well as managers and non-managers were included in the sample. The advertising employees ranged in age from less than 25 to over 45 years of age with most being over 30 years of age. A majority of the agency professionals had worked in advertising for more than 6 years; 30 percent of the professionals surveyed had more than 14 years of experience working in advertising. More than 60 percent of the advertising professionals had worked at their current agency no more than 5 years. Nearly all of the professionals had at least 4 years of college; 60 percent of the agency participants were female.

As noted by McCuddy and Perry (1996), given that students are potential employees, their "ethical propensities" can increase the knowledge of factors that influence future ethical behavior. As future advertising employees, 191 students enrolled in upper-division advertising courses at an AACSB accredited university in the Midwest were selected for inclusion in the study. In the business marketing curricula, the advertising students had been presented considerable information regarding the role of an advertising professional as well as ethical issues and behavior in advertising. In the student sample, 74 percent of the participants were business majors with the remaining students majoring in communications, art and design, and English. All participants were nearing the end of their college curricula. Seventy-four percent of the students were seniors, 25 percent were juniors, and the remaining students were post-graduates. Sixty percent of the respondents were female, and 80 percent of the subjects had no previous employment in advertising.

The second step in the research process involved development of the survey instrument. Many previous researchers in the area of ethics advocate the use of scenarios (Dubinsky et al., 1992; DuPont and Craig, 1996; Harris and Sutton, 1995; Jones and Kavanagh, 1996). In this type of research, respondents are presented with scenarios containing either an ethical or an unethical situation (Chonko et al., 1996). According to Jones and Kavanagh (1996, p. 515), "If unethical behavior in organizations is of rational choice, we could assume that intentions are indicative of actual behavior." Therefore, four questions assessing respondent perceptions of ethics in advertising were developed and pretested. Respondents were asked to indicate on a five-point Likert scale (1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=uncertain, 4=disagree, 5=strongly disagree) their agreement with four ethical concepts in the field of advertising: 1) the importance of ethical behavior, 2) whether success depends on ethical behavior, 3) the likelihood of encountering ethical dilemmas, and 4) whether they would only feel comfortable working in a corporate environment where corporate and personnel ethics are congruent.

Additionally, 20 situations were developed that could pose ethical dilemmas in an advertising context. The situations were developed based on literature indicating that some of the primary ethical issues facing advertisers relate to advertising accuracy, treating agency clients fairly, treating the employee agency fairly, and working fairly with the competition (Hunt and Chonko, 1987; Triese et al., 1994). Each of the situations included in the questionnaire were pretested for relevance and clarity with a separate group of students and with various advertising executives. The 20 situations are presented in the appendix. Respondents were asked to indicate on a seven-point Likert scale (1=very unlikely to 7=very likely) their likelihood to engage in each of the advertising situations.

Using analysis of variance, means for the current and future advertising professionals were compared for each of the four ethics questions and for each of the 20 situational questions. Analysis of variance also was used to assess the effect of gender on the responses to each of the ethical and situational questions for both the agency employees and students. Additionally for both the male and female agency personnel, correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between length of employment in advertising and the responses to each of the ethical and situational questions.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Ethical Perceptions of Advertising Professionals and Students

Advertising agency personnel and students held similar views on three of the four ethical questions--they would only feel comfortable working in a corporate environment where corporate ethics matched their own personal ethics, success in advertising depends on ethical behavior, and both disagree that ethical dilemmas are rarely encountered in advertising. However, advertising agency personnel agreed more strongly than did the students that ethical behavior is important in advertising. (See Table 1.) Perhaps students' exposure to ads has lead them to feel that ethical behavior is not always practiced in advertising. However when in a position to actually create ads, advertising professionals may have a better understanding of the importance of ethical behavior in advertising.

Perceived Likelihood to Engage in Unethical Advertising Behaviors of Advertising Professionals and Students

For the 20 advertising situations, agency personnel were unlikely to participate in 13 of the 20 unethical advertising activities (means [less than or equal to] 3.0) whereas students were unlikely to participate in only 9 of the 20 activities. (See Table 2.) For 10 of the 20 advertising situations, the perceived likelihood to engage in the activity differed between agency personnel and students. Students were more likely to make burger in an ad appear larger than it actually is, book a more expensive airline ticket to obtain frequent flyer miles, use confidential information to gain a competitive advantage, reverse a trend line graph to give positive impression, keep an expensive vendor gift, disclose a client's ad expense, accept freelance work from a client that competes with one of the agency's clients, charge an expensive dinner with friends to the corporate expense account, not hire a person due to their lack of social drinking, and for an advertisement pose an employee as disabled when they are not.

In contrast, copy corporate computer software for use at home was an activity in which both agency personnel and students were likely to engage. Further, both groups were uncertain whether they would alter a dog food product to expedite production of the advertisement. On the other hand, both agency personnel and students indicated that they were very unlikely to ignore a client over billing mistake, not hire a person due to their lack of social drinking, and pose an employee as disabled when they are not in an advertisement. However unlike students, agency personnel indicated that they would be unlikely to engage in two additional activities--accept freelance work from a client that competes with one of the agency's clients and charge an expensive dinner with friends to the corporate expense account.

Effect of Gender on Ethical Perceptions of Advertising Professionals and Students

For agency personnel, there were no significant differences in responses between male and female participants. However, this was not the case with students. (See Table 3.) In comparison to females, males did not agree as strongly that ethical behavior is important in advertising. Similarly in contrast to females, males felt that success in advertising is not as dependent on ethical behavior and that a work environment where corporate ethics matched their own was less important. These findings support earlier research that females tend to have stronger views concerning ethical situations than do males.

Effect of Gender on the Perceived Likelihood to Engage in Unethical Advertising Behaviors for Advertising Professionals and Students

For the 20 ethical situations, there were no significant differences in responses between male and female advertising agency participants. However significant differences were found between male and female student responses. The means for males were consistently higher than those for females. Further for 14 of the 20 situations, the means for males were significantly higher than those for females. This indicates that males were more likely to engage in unethical behaviors than were females. Once again, these findings are consistent with earlier research concerning the ethical views of females versus males.

Relationship of Gender and Length of Employment in Advertising to the Advertising Professionals' Ethical Perceptions

For male agency personnel there was a highly significant, inverse correlation (r=-.77; p<.0005) between length of time employed in advertising and the importance of ethical behavior. The longer males were employed in advertising agencies, the more important they perceived ethical behavior in advertising. However, no such relationship was observed for female agency personnel. For female agency personnel, the perception of the importance of ethical behavior did not vary with length of employment. These findings suggest that for females ethical perceptions may be less likely to change over time. However as males mature and gain work experience, they may be more likely to modify their ethical perceptions.

Relationship of Gender and Length of Employment in Advertising to Advertising Professionals' Perceived Likelihood to Engage in Unethical Advertising Behaviors

For male agency personnel there were significant, inverse relationships between length of time employed in advertising and the likelihood to engage in six of the 20 ethical situations. (See Table 5.) The longer males were employed in advertising agencies, the less likely they felt that they would engage in unethical advertising behaviors. However, no such relationships were observed for female agency personnel. For female agency personnel, the likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors did not vary with length of employment. These findings indicate that in contrast to males, females perceived likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors may remain stable over time. However for males the situation may be more dynamic with work experience influencing the likelihood to engage in unethical advertising behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study examined the ethical perceptions and the perceived likelihood to engage in unethical activities for both advertising professionals and students. Results of the study indicate that advertising professionals agreed more strongly than did students that ethical behavior is important in advertising. Further, students were more likely to engage in unethical advertising activities than agency personnel. These results indicate the need for agency personnel to design mentoring and training programs for future advertising employees. These programs and accompanying monitoring systems should be designed to enable employees to develop their ethical standards. Clearly, university curriculum efforts have been pressured to include issues in ethics for several years now. Consequently, one must question if ethics in advertising has focused enough on specific ethical activities that face advertising agencies. In this context, advertising textbooks often discuss the importance of ethics in advertising however; many do not devote coverage of actual ethical dilemmas and practices encountered by practitioners on a daily basis. In addition, it is possible that professors avoid discussions concerning what is "right and wrong" behavior in advertising as well. Future research should extend this study in an attempt to help educators, students, and advertising personnel by determining what practices are considered ethical and unethical, common and uncommon, as well as positive and negative consequences of these behaviors. No doubt, as time, technology and media culture change, so will the ethics that guide the advertising industry.

Unlike some previous studies, gender and work experience were significantly related to ethical views. For students, females appear to have higher ethical standards than males. Additionally, it appears that the higher ethical standards of females carry over into the workplace and remain stable over time. However, male students appear to have a more relaxed view of ethical standards and to be willing to take more risks. However once employed in an advertising agency, males appear to rethink and reformulate their ethical standards. The longer the length of employment in advertising, the more conservative the male employees become. In terms of ethics, employment experience tends to affect males in a positive manner. Based on these findings, it may be suggested that agencies and universities do more to integrate males and females on project teams and assignments. Such integration may elevate the ethical standards and behaviors of the male team members. Further, students should be exposed to more advertising practitioners during their studies. This exposure should include modules focusing on the significance of ethics in the practice of advertising.

As future business executives and employees, the ethical views held by college students will impact corporate culture. It is important for current advertising professionals to understand the ethical views of their newest colleagues and how those views may differ from their own. The need for agency professionals to mentor new employees is underscored by the potential dynamic nature of ethical perceptions and behaviors. Unethical activities not only create a negative view of business but also affect corporate profitability, co-worker relationships, job performance, and job satisfaction. With the low public perception of marketers, it is increasingly important for our future advertising professionals to be trained in and to understand the importance of ethical behavior in the advertising profession. This study provides insights for firms and researchers interested in assessing the ethical views of advertising professionals and students and in designing ethics training programs for future advertising employees.

Appendix A: Advertising Ethical Dilemmas

You are producing a television ad for a gourmet dog food manufacturer. Several hours have been spent trying to get the star, a Labrador retriever, to eat the dog food. Since the production is costing $12,000 per hour, you place a steak in the bottom of the dog food bowl. Although the dog never eats one bite of the dog food, the camera angle makes it appear that the dog is devouring the gourmet dog food.

You are producing a television ad for a weight loss company. In order to be legal, the ad must contain the disclaimer, "These results are not typical." You meet the legal obligation by displaying the disclaimer so quickly and in type so small that it is barely readable.

In the ad that you are producing, your client, a fast food restaurant chain, wants their burger to appear much larger than it actually is. You use a camera lens and retouching to make the background objects look smaller.

Your client has requested an estimate for next year's advertising budget. You estimate that account service will be 40% of the budget. Your client will likely object to such a large allocation to account service. Knowing that your client will probably never question budgeted printing costs, you shift 10% of the estimated account service cost to printing.

In reviewing your account billing, you notice that you have accidentally over billed one of your clients by a substantial amount. However, you have already received payment from the client. You ignore the mistake.

You are employed by an ad agency but also do freelance work on weekends. Another agency wants you to design an ad for one of their clients. While the agency is not a direct competitor of your employer, the ad is for a client that directly competes with one of your agency's clients. You accept the freelance work.

As an art director for an advertising agency, you often take work home. Your home computer has the same software but not all of the fonts that you use at the agency. You copy all of the agency's fonts and install them on your home computer.

You interview a person for an account executive position with your agency. At dinner, the person indicates that they do not drink alcoholic beverages. Even though the person is well suited for the position, you decide that the person is not the one for the job because they will not be able to drink socially with clients.

At the ad agency where you work, you participate in a fantasy football league. During work hours, you and your coworkers spend a significant amount of time making your picks, and corresponding via e-mail with update scores, standings, offers for trades, and sarcastic congratulations to the week's winner.

Focus group results are to be included in a marketing brochure for a client's product. The first set of focus group results is disappointing. You discard the first set and include in the brochure a second set of results that are more favorable to the client's product.

You provide clients with low, middle, and high estimates of the cost of each advertising project. The middle estimate amount is the actual cost incurred for one project for a particularly difficult client. However, because of the extra headaches created by the client, you bill the client for the high estimate amount.

As a media sales representative, you tell a client that his major competitor will be running ads in your magazine. To close the sale, you tell the client the amount his competitor will be spending on the ads.

You designed an expensive ad campaign for a client, but the client failed to pay the bill. Even though your agency has a client confidentiality rule, at lunch you tell several of your friends at other advertising agencies about the client's failure to pay.

Your friend works for a competing ad agency. Unknown to your friend, both ad agencies, yours and your friend's, are competing for the same account. Over dinner, your friend discusses plans to win the account. You use the information to gain a competitive advantage.

You are in charge of deciding which new computers to purchase for your ad agency. You tell one of the computer sales representatives that the decision is between his company and one other and that you will make your decision in two weeks. The next day a new computer arrives at your home as a gift from the sales rep. You keep the computer.

You are out-of-town visiting a client. You have a free evening, so you decide to have dinner with a couple of old college friends. The dinner turns out to be quite expensive. You pick up the check and charge it to your agency's expense account.

You are to travel out-of-town to visit a client. Although you can obtain a less expensive fare on another airline, you choose to book the ticket with the airline on which you are collecting frequent flyer miles.

You are preparing a brochure that must include a 5-year profile of a client's sales figures. Sales have steadily declined over the 5-year period. You design a line graph such that the year with the lowest sales is displayed first and the year with the highest sales occurs last. Thus the data line rises from left to right and gives a positive impression of the company's sales.

You are designing a recruiting brochure for a company. In the brochure, you decide to include a photograph of the company's employees and facilities. The company has no disabled employees, so you ask one of the employees to sit in a wheelchair for one of the photographs.

You are designing a package for a client whose product must display a warning label concerning a potentially harmful side effect. To de-emphasize the warning, you print it in a pastel color that readily blends with the rest of the package design.

REFERENCES

Chonko, Lawrence B., John F. Tanner, and William A. Weeks (1996). Ethics in Salesperson Decision Making: A Synthesis of Research Approaches and an Extension of the Scenario Method. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 16(Winter), 35-52.

Chonko, Lawrence B., Thomas R. Wotruba, and Terry W. Loe (2002). Direct Selling Ethics at the Top: An Industry Audit and Status Report. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 22(Spring), 87-95.

Dubinsky, Alan J. and Michael Levy (19850. Ethics in Retailing: Perceptions of Retail Salespeople. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 13(1), 1-16.

Dubinsky, Alan J., Marvin A. Jolson, Ronald E. Michaels, Masaaki Kotabe, and Chae Un Lim (1992). Ethical Perceptions of Field Sales Personnel: An Empirical Assessment. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 12(Fall), 9-21.

DuPont, Ann M. and Jane S. Craig (1996). Does Management Experience Change the Ethical Perceptions of Retail Professionals: A Comparison of the Ethical Perceptions of Current Students with Those of Recent Graduates. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 815-826.

Galbraith, S. and H. B. Stephenson (1993). Decision Rules Used by Male and Female Business Students in Making Ethical Value Judgments: Another Look. Journal of Business Ethics, 12, 227-233.

Harris, James R. and Charlotte D. Sutton (1995). Unraveling the Ethical Decision-Making Process: Clues from An Empirical Study Comparing Fortune 1000 Executives and MBA Students. Journal of Business Ethics, 14, 805-817.

Hunt, Shelby D. and Lawrence B. Chonko (1987). Ethical Problems of Advertising Agency Executives. Journal of Advertising, 16(4), 16-24.

Jones, Gwen E. and Michael J. Kavanagh (1996). An Experimental Examination of the Effects of Individual and Situational Factors on Unethical Behavioral Intentions in the Workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 511-523.

Lantos, Geoffrey P. (1999). Motivating Moral Corporate Behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16(3), 222-223.

Luther, H. K., R. A. DiBattista, and T. Gautchi (1997). Perception of What the Ethical Climate Is and What It Should Be: The Role of Gender, Academic Status, and Ethical Education. Journal of Business Ethics, 16, 205-217.

Mantel, Susan Powell (2005). Choice or Perceptions: How Affect Influences Ethical Choices Among Salespeople. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 25(Winter), 43-55.

McCuddy, M. K. and B. L. Perry (1996). Selected Individual Differences and Collegians' Ethical Beliefs. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 261-272.

McFarland, Richard G. (2003). Crisis of Conscience: The Use of Coercive Sales Tactics and Resultant Felt Stress in the Salesperson. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 23(4, Fall), 311-325.

Sales and Marketing Management (2005). S&MM Pulse(June), 12.

Sales and Marketing Management (2006). S&MM Pulse(June), 18.

Schwepker, Charles H. Jr. (1999). The Relationship Between Ethical Conflict, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intentions in the Sales Force. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, (Winter), 43-49.

Singhapakdi, Anusorn and Scott J. Vitell, Jr. (1990). Marketing Ethics: Factors Influencing Perceptions of Ethical Problems and Alternatives. Journal of Macromarketing, (Spring), 4-18.

Sparks, John R. and Mark Johlke (1996). Factors Influencing Student Perceptions of Unethical Behavior by Personal Salespeople: An Experimental Investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 871-887.

Treise, D., Weigold, M. F., Conna, J., and Garrison, H. (1994), Ethics in Advertising: Ideological Correlates of Consumer Perceptions. Journal of Advertising, 23(3, September), 59-72.

Valentine, Sean and Tim Barnett (2003). Ethics Code Awareness, Perceived Ethical Values, and Organizational Commitment. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 23 (4, Fall), 359-367.

Wulfson, Myrna (1998). Rules of the Game: Do Corporate Codes of Ethics Work? Review of Business, (Fall), 12-16.

Nancy K. Keith, Missouri State University Charles E. Pettijohn, Missouri State University Melissa S. Burnett, Missouri State University

Table 1: Agency Personnel and Student Ethical Perception Means

Ethical Perception Mean *

 Agency Students
 Personnel (n=191)
 (n=40)

Ethical Behavior is 1.3 1.6
 Important in Advertising
Would Only Feel Comfortable 1.9 2.1
 Working in a Corporate Environment
 where the Corporate Ethics Matched
 Own Personal Ethics
Success in Advertising Depends 2.3 2.6
 on Ethical Behavior
Ethical Dilemmas are Rarely 4.3 4.4
 Encountered in Advertising

Ethical Perception

 Significance
 Level

Ethical Behavior is 0.022
 Important in Advertising
Would Only Feel Comfortable NS
 Working in a Corporate Environment
 where the Corporate Ethics Matched
 Own Personal Ethics
Success in Advertising Depends NS
 on Ethical Behavior
Ethical Dilemmas are Rarely NS
 Encountered in Advertising

* 1=Strongly Agree, 5=Strongly Disagree, NS=not significant

Table 2: Agency Personnel and Students' Perceived Likelihood
to Engage in Unethical Advertising Behaviors

Advertising Behavior Mean *

 Agency Students
 Personnel (n=191)
 (n=40)

Copy Computer Software 5.7 5.4
Steak in Dog Food Bowl 4.2 4.7
Fantasy Football League 3.7 3.4
Barely Readable Disclaimer 3.6 3.4
Burger Appears Larger 3.6 4.1
Discard Focus Group Results 3.2 3.4
Book More Expensive Airline Ticket to 3.0 4.2
 Obtain Frequent Flyer Miles
Billing High Estimate Amount 2.9 3.1
Use Confidential Information to Gain 2.7 3.5
 a Competitive Advantage
Disclose Client's Failure to Pay 2.6 2.8
Estimates/Budgeting 2.5 2.7
De-emphasize Warning Label 2.3 2.3
Reverse Trend Line Graph to Give 2.2 3.0
 Positive Impression
Keep Expensive Vendor Gift 2.1 3.9
Disclose Client's Ad Expense 2.0 3.0
Freelance Work 1.7 3.7
Dinner with Friends Charged to 1.6 2.4
 Expense Account
Client Over Billing 1.5 1.7
Social Drinking 1.4 1.8
Pose Employee as Disabled 1.3 1.7

Advertising Behavior Significance
 Level

Copy Computer Software NS
Steak in Dog Food Bowl NS
Fantasy Football League NS
Barely Readable Disclaimer NS
Burger Appears Larger 0.0914
Discard Focus Group Results NS
Book More Expensive Airline Ticket to 0.0002
 Obtain Frequent Flyer Miles
Billing High Estimate Amount NS
Use Confidential Information to Gain 0.0120
 a Competitive Advantage
Disclose Client's Failure to Pay NS
Estimates/Budgeting NS
De-emphasize Warning Label NS
Reverse Trend Line Graph to Give 0.0091
 Positive Impression
Keep Expensive Vendor Gift <.0001
Disclose Client's Ad Expense 0.0
Freelance Work <.0001
Dinner with Friends Charged to 0.0
 Expense Account
Client Over Billing NS
Social Drinking 0.0523
Pose Employee as Disabled 0.0588

* 1=Very Unlikely, 7=Very Likely, NS=Not significant

Table 3: Student Ethical Perception Means by Gender

Ethical Perception Student Mean *

 Male Female
 (n=76) (n=115)

Ethical Behavior is Important in Advertising 1.8 1.4
Would Only Feel Comfortable Working in 2.3 1.9
 a Corporate Environment where the Corporate
 Ethics Matched Own Personal Ethics
Success in Advertising Depends 2.9 2.4
 on Ethical Behavior
Ethical Dilemmas are Rarely Encountered 4.4 4.4
 in Advertising

Ethical Perception Significance
 Level

Ethical Behavior is Important in Advertising 0.0040
Would Only Feel Comfortable Working in 0.0060
 a Corporate Environment where the Corporate
 Ethics Matched Own Personal Ethics
Success in Advertising Depends 0.0060
 on Ethical Behavior
Ethical Dilemmas are Rarely Encountered NS
 in Advertising

* 1=Strongly Agree, 5=Strongly Disagree, NS=Not significant

Table 4: Students' Perceived Likelihood to Engage in Unethical
Advertising Behaviors by Gender

Advertising Behavior Student Mean *

 Male Female Significance
 (n=76) (n=115) Level

Copy Computer Software 5.8 5.1 0.0017
Steak in Dog Food Bowl 5.3 4.3 0.0001
Fantasy Football League 4.1 2.9 <.0001
Barely Readable Disclaimer 3.8 3.1 0.0052
Burger Appears Larger 4.4 4.0 0.0691
Discard Focus Group Results 3.6 3.2 NS
Book More Expensive Airline 4.3 4.1 NS
 Ticket to Obtain Frequent
 Flyer Miles
Billing High Estimate Amount 3.9 2.7 <.0001
Use Confidential Information 3.7 3.4 NS
 to Gain a Competitive
 Advantage
Disclose Client's Failure to Pay 3.1 2.6 0.0464
Estimates/Budgeting 3.1 2.4 0.0010
De-emphasize Warning Label 2.3 2.3 NS
Reverse Trend Line Graph to 3.1 2.9 NS
 Give Positive Impression
Keep Expensive Vendor Gift 4.3 3.6 0.0188
Disclose Client's Ad Expense 3.4 2.8 0.0129
Freelance Work 4.1 3.5 0.0451
Dinner with Friends Charged 2.9 2.1 0.0002
 to Expense Account
Client Over Billing 1.9 1.6 0.0700
Social Drinking 2.3 1.4 <.0001
Pose Employee as Disabled 1.9 1.6 NS

* 1=Very Unlikely, 7=Very Likely, NS=Not significant

Table 5: Correlation between Length of Employment and
Perceived Likelihood to Engage in Unethical Advertising
Behavior for Male Agency Personnel

Advertising Behavior Male Agency
 Personnel (n=16)

 Correlation Significance
 Level

Copy Computer Software -0.44 0.0880
Fantasy Football League -0.59 0.0153
Burger Appears Larger -0.53 0.0441
Reverse Trend Line Graph -0.57 0.0197
 to Give Positive Impression
Keep Expensive Vendor Gift -0.70 0.0025
Client Over Billing -0.53 0.0350