Abstract :
The concept of ethics has become crucial in every aspect of life as the relationship between human beings grew more complex. Especially the challenges of commercial environment, increasing competition along with globalization, and the advance in information communication technologies have placed customers at the focal point of business activities. These circumstances make it necessary for businesses to satisfy the needs of their customers in the best possible way and to harmonize their understanding of ethics with that of their customers. The concept of ethics, which is defined as the set of principles defining what is right and wrong, has its counterpart in marketing: marketing ethics. Earlier studies on this topic have examined marketing ethics with respect to businesses and customers from various angles. Some studies showed that the concept of ethics varies across cultures and countries and according to various demographic variables. Many studies examined the topic with regard to such dimensions as advertisement, sale, product, and price. The present study focuses on the identification of the similarities and differences between the ethical perceptions of employees and customers in the retail industry. The retail industry is a rapidly growing sector in which customer service is widely becoming a crucial element. The primary problem in the growing retail industry is the fiercely competitive environment. Many companies are tempted to adopt unethical practices in response to increasing competition, which, as a result, prepare their own ends unawares. Businesses that claim to have a marketing concept and to shape their operations according to it should be all the more careful about ethical perceptions. In this sense, the comparison between the ethical viewpoints of businesses and customers bears utmost importance and appears as an untouched field of study. The present study aims to reveal the differences between the ethical notions of customers and businesses and the restricting implications of these differences in the retail industry along with a survey of the literature on marketing ethics. The present study adapted the questions prepared by Levy Dubinsky (1983: 46-66), McIntyre, Thomas Gilbert (1999), Rallapalli (1999) and Varinli (2004) for measuring ethical perceptions, while preparing its own questions about marketing ethics. The core of the marketing concept is to be customer-oriented. Being customer-oriented requires that a business takes customer as a reference point in all marketing-related processes and undertakes marketing planning accordingly. The processes of marketing planning therefore do not simply involve choosing a target market, creating a marketing mix, and positioning but also taking marketing ethics into account in all these decisions as it is a must for businesses in competition to satisfy customers beyond their expectations. This study aims to compare the ethical evaluations of customers and businesses with regard to customer satisfaction in the retail industry. The results of this study can help businesses adjust their ethical perceptions to those of their customers and thus gain customers trust, which is a major variable in marketing. The present study, which involves a comparison between the ethical evaluations of customers and businesses, aims to identify the differences between customers and businesses through a descriptive approach. The data for this study were collected using a primary data collection technique, face-to-face questionnaires. The study applied a scale that can measure the ethical evaluations of customers and businesses. This scale involved questions concerning the demographic characteristics of the participating customers and employees. To compare the collected data, the study employed factor analysis and independent t-test for comparison. As the population for this study was too big, it was necessary to determine a sample. The study therefore focused on the food retailers in the city of Kirikkale with the participation of 10 local or national retail food chain stores with a total of 735 questionnaires. The questionnaires were conducted with 183 employees and 552 customers. The questions in the questionnaire were asked in the negative form. A higher mean score therefore means that the participant considers a particular unethical behaviors to be more ethical or less unethical. The interpretations were made in light of this structure (1: Definitely unethical, 5: Definitely Ethical). According to the results of our analysis, 58% and 42% percent of the participants were male and female respectively. The percentage of those who held a graduate degree, college degree, associate degree, high school degree, secondary school degree, or a primary school degree were 1.4%, 10.6%, 20.8%, 44.5%,17.1%, and 5.5% respectively. 45.5% had a monthly income of 751- 1000TL, 31.5% had 0-750 TL, 14.6% had 1501-2250 TL, and 9% had 2251 TL or over. Of all participants, 24.9% were employees of a business, while 75.1% were customers. The scores obtained on the scale measuring ethical evaluations were assessed using a factor analysis with varimax rotation. p and KMO values were determined to be over the desired level, which indicated that the scale was suited for the factor analysis. The alpha value was found to be .943, which proved that the scale had sufficient internal consistency. According to the factor analysis, 7 factor groups were identified in relation to the ethical perceptions in the retail industry. These factors were: favoring or deficient treatment, actively illegal behavior, pressuring customers, failure to illuminate customers sufficiently, concealing mistakes and being insensitive to health, misleading information and egoism, and failure to protect the interests of the business and customers. These 7 factor groups accounted for 59% of the variance in the ethical perceptions in the retail industry. According to the results of this study, there was a statistically meaningful difference between the employees and customers perceptions of “favoring or deficient treatment”. Employees were found to consider “favoring or deficient treatment” more ethical or less unethical compared to customers. In other words, employees considered such negative behaviors as favoring certain customers and giving customers incomplete information about a product to be more ethical or less unethical compared to customers. As for the second factor, “actively illegal behaviors”, employees were found to consider such behaviors more unethical (negative) compared to customers. Regarding the third factor, “pressuring customers”, a statistically significant difference was identified between the perceptions of employees and customers. Employees considered “pressuring customers” to be more unethical compared to customers. A statistically meaningful difference was also identified between the perceptions of employees and customers concerning the fourth factor, the failure to illuminate customers sufficiently. The results showed that employees find the failure to illuminate customers sufficiently to be more unethical compared to customers. There was not a statistically meaningful difference between the perceptions of employees and customers concerning the fifth factor, “concealing mistakes and being insensitive to health”. Similarly, no statistically significant difference was identified between the perceptions of employees and customers concerning the sixth factor, “misleading information and egoism”. Lastly, employees were found to consider “the failure to protect the interests of the business and customers” to be more ethical or less unethical compared to customers. These results suggest that there might be differences between employes and customers in their views of ethical evaluation. Modern marketing certainly requires being customer-oriented. Being customer-oriented requires empathizing with customers and treating them properly. The service industry calls for a lot more customer-oriented thinking than others. The findings of the present study on marketing ethics suggests that it is necessary for employees in the retail industry to review their ethical evaluations and adjust their behaviors according to the wants and evaluations of the customers.
