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The General Theory of Marketing Ethics: A Revision and Three Questions

Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University, Box 42101, Lubbock, TX 79409; phone: (806) 742-3436; shelby.hunt{at}ttu.edu

Scott J. Vitell

Marketing Department, School of Business Administration, at the University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677; phone: (662) 915-5468, svitell{at}bus.olemiss.edu

The general theory of marketing ethics, first published in the Journal of Macromarketing by Hunt and Vitell (1986), has been the focus of much discussion and empirical testing. As a result, the theory was revised in 1993. This article overviews the 1993 revision of the model and addresses three questions that are often asked by those who use the model in the classroom and/or in research: (1) What is the justification for using normative ethical theory as a starting point for positing a positive ethical theory? (2) Is the Hunt Vitell (H-V) model a causal model, that is, is each concept in the model a construct to be measured? (3) How, specifically, can the H-V theory be used to teach marketing and business ethics?

Key Words: ethics • theory • Hunt-Vitell model • empirical tests • teaching ethics

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