An Essay on Examination of Marketing Scholars Engendering Critical Moral, and Ethical Reflection Into the Marketing Curriculum
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between critical moral and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum
- To ascertain the components of the marketing mix from an ethical perspective
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
What is (Traditional) Marketing?
“There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer…” (Drucker, 1954, p. 7) It is argued that the concept most fundamental to the moral foundation of the marketing concept is that of satisfying customer needs (Crane & Desmond, 2002; Kotler & Levy, 1969). In very broad terms, marketing refers to the activities carried out by an organisation that pertain to the exchange of value with customers. Where the line can (and cannot) be drawn is arguably arbitrary, but it can certainly be argued that the matter of value exchange is far reaching, and thus ‘marketing’ is a term that is all-encompassing. Silk (2006) said it best when simply stating that the practice of marketing requires an understanding of competitors and collaborators, with attention to capitalising on the firm’s innate capabilities to satisfy customers profitably. However, whilst the focal issue of marketing practice is the connection between goods and services and customers’ satisfaction, it could be argued that explorations of this assumption ought to also be a crucial element in academic research and marketing theory (Alvesson, 1994). The American Marketing Association (AMA) exists as a professional organisation for marketing professionals, that describes itself as “leading the discussion on marketing excellence” (American Marketing Association, 2016a). The Association looks to provide relevant instruction to commercial marketers (through initiatives such as Best Versus Next Practices™), though also have influence in the academic sphere of marketing as they own and publish the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (American Marketing Association, 2016a). The first official definition of marketing applied by the AMA was in 1935, and was untouched for fifty years until a revision was issued in 1985, with subsequent revisions again in 2004 and 2007. The evolution of the definitions, taken from Keefe’s article (2004) published in AMA’s Marketing News and from the current-day website, are as follows: [1935] “(Marketing is) the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers.” (Keefe, 2004, p. 17) [1985] “(Marketing is) the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives” (Keefe, 2004, p. 17) [2004] “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (Keefe, 2004, p. 17) [2007] “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large” (American Marketing Association, 2016b, p. 1). In 2007 AMA included an additional and separate definition of ‘marketing research’ and its function in influencing marketing activity: “Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information–information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications (American Marketing Association, 2016b, p. 1) Of course, the AMA’s definition is not the authority on marketing practices, nor does its North American focus suggest that it is representative of all marketing activities. However, it is nonetheless an organisation with a considerable degree of influence, that provides definitions that aim to describe the contemporary issues of concern to academics and professionals (Wilkie & Moore, 2006). It must be noted that whilst the definition can function as a ‘snapshot’ of the topical marketing issues of the time, it must not be viewed as insurance against unethical and uncritical behaviour. It has been suggested that the greater macro emphasis was a result of criticism in issues of the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and that the intention of the inclusion was largely symbolic in nature (Tadajewski & Brownlie, 2008). Moorman (1987, p. 194) writes that marketing is “preoccupied” with outcomes in that it is results-oriented and uncritical in the application of marketing tools. With this fixation on outcomes, less attention is afforded to ethical conduct during the implementation process, and Moorman (1987) suggested that the move to the 1985 AMA definition was a step toward describing a system that would likely allow amoral techniques if yielding positive results to customers and organisations.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research is the process of arriving at a dependable solution to problems through planned and systematic collection, analyzing and interpretation of data (Osuala, 1993).
Green and Full (1975) defines research methodology as the specification of procedures for collecting and analyzing the data necessary to solve the problem at hand such that the differences between the cost of obtaining various levels of accuracy and the expected value of the information associated with each level of accuracy is optimized.
Thus, in this chapter the method and techniques of data collection and analysis for this study are discussed in details, research design, population of study, sample and sampling technique, sources of data collection, research instrument, validity of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, procedure for administration of research instrument, as well as the limitation of the research methodology. This will be important in order to examination of marketing scholars engendering critical moral, and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum.
Research Design
The research design adopted in this research work is the survey research design which involves the usage of self-designed questionnaire in the collection of data. Under the survey research design, primary data of this study will be collected from Unilever plc in Lagos state in order to examination of marketing scholars engendering critical moral, and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum. The design was chosen because it enables the researcher to collect data without manipulation of any variables of interest in the study. The design also provides opportunity for equal chance of participation in the study for respondents.
Population of Study
The population of study is the census of all items or a subject that possess the characteristics or that have the knowledge of the phenomenon that is being studied (Asiaka, 1991). It also means the aggregate people from which the sample is to be drawn.
Population is sometimes referred to as the universe. The population of this research study will be Seventy-five (75) selected staffs of Unilever plc in Lagos state.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter is about the analysis and presentation of data collected from the field through questionnaire. The analysis of the data with particular question immediately followed by the presentation of findings.
As mentioned in chapter three, 50 questionnaires were administered and 50 were retrieved and necessary analysis was carried out on them and presented as follows:
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain examination of marketing scholars engendering critical moral, and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of marketing scholars engendering critical moral, and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum
Summary
This study was on examination of marketing scholars engendering critical moral, and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum. Two objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the relationship between critical moral and ethical reflection into the marketing curriculum and to ascertain the components of the marketing mix from an ethical perspective. In line with these objectives, two research questions and research hypotheses were formulated and three null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 75 staffs of Unilever, Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study.
Conclusion
Critical perspective has an important role to play in marketing curriculum. Some educator may argue that critical reflection involves questioning of the discipline literature and professional value that could result in whole sale loss of faith in marketing as a discipline and as a professional. We argue that, the very opposite applies. It would be wrong to convey the impression that all students or even a majority of them are prepared to engage with marketing in the ways we have suggested
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