Ethical Decision Making in Business and Marketing with reference to Moral Intensity

Due to rising concern for ethical issues in marketing, researchers have shown interest in moral issues arising in the field.The process of ethical decision making has been explained by various models given by various researchers.Different models propounded by different authors discuss the impact of various factors like deontological and teleological ideologies, demographics, social knowledge, personal values on ethical decision-making of marketing professionals.However, it has been observed that ethical decision making is often situation specific.The paper investigates the impact of intensity of a moral issue i.e. how much morally intense a situation is on the ethical decision making.The factors affecting moral intensity of a situation can be magnitude of consequences, social consensus, the probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity and the concentration of effect.Ethical decision making also varies according to the nature of individual and the organisational environment.Individual characteristics often included in various models are personal experiences, personality variables and demographics whereas organisational environment includes its culture and values.The perceived moral intensity along with personal moral philosophies lays impact on intentions and behaviour.So, the paper presents an integrated model of antecedents and consequences of Personal moral philosophies and Perceived Moral Intensity.The aim of paper is to present conceptual framework of the Ethical Decision Making Process.