ISSUES OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Đuro Horvat, Gastro Grupa, Croatia

horvat@gastro-grupa.hr

Marcel Meler, University of Osijek, Croatia

marcel.meler@os.t-com.hr

Nataša Trojak, Gastro Grupa, Croatia

trojak@gastro-grupa.hr

Marketing research helps to considerably reduce market risks, and to improve the probability of
success and the validity of marketing decisions made on the basis of information obtained from
researching the marketplace. For this to happen, however, the practise of ethical behaviour in
marketing research is essential. This is an issue that can be viewed from a number of
perspectives. The first relates to ethical issues that could arise in carrying out the work
contracted between the client and the agency engaged for marketing research. Namely, the
agency might carry out the job in an unprofessional manner, by falsifying results in favour of the
client, or by intentionally concealing the methodological approach used in the research. When
the job has been completed, ethical issues can also emerge if the agency makes uses of the
information obtained from the client or the results obtained from the marketing research for
other purposes without the client’s approval. Another ethical concern pertains to the way the end
user of the information obtained from the research may choose to interpret research results by
intentionally hiding specific information in order for certain business decisions to be made
voluntarily. Finally, ethical issues may also arise with regard to research respondents if the
declared anonymity of the research is abused through the subsequent use, in other purposes, of
data obtained from the respondents.

Keywords: business ethics, ethics, marketing research, marketing

INTRODUCTION

Businesses will find it difficult and risky to carry out an entire range of business decisions, and
above all, marketing decisions, if they have failed to precede these decisions with marketing
research. Marketing research helps to considerably reduce market risks, and to improve the
probability of success and the validity of marketing decisions made on the basis of information
obtained through marketing research. For example, marketing research has proved to be
indispensable prior to any construction of production or sales facilities, in changing and
restructuring production (sales) programs, in substantially altering any of the marketing mix
elements, and so on. These and similar reasons and, in particular, increasingly greater and
harsher competition have combined to make marketing research an essential imperative and basis
for shaping the business policy of economic agents. Obviously, the tasks of marketing research
will vary from one business to another, depending foremost on the nature of activities a business
is engaged in, its size, production program, established marketing objectives, etc.
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, client, 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, analyses the results, and communicates the findings and
their implications (6).

Accordingly, marketing research as a rudimentary and fundamental attribute of the marketing

concept, relative to other business concepts such as production and sales, should ensure that
businesses are provided with the right information needed for them to make the right marketing
decisions. However, so that marketing research could complete it’s function in full it has to be
carried out ethically, no matter from which point of view these ethics are observed. This will also
be the studied object in the text that follows and that’s why this paper presents concrete examples
of possible unethical behaviour in marketing research, and proposes ways of preventing and
resolving poor ethical practices to ensure the objectivity of businesses in decision-making is not
jeopardised. It has to be emphasized at the beginning that in the thesis there is no empirical
research, which is, of course, it’s fundamental disadvantage. The reason for this is simple. First
of all, it has to be realized that marketing research in the Republic of Croatia, the home of the
authors, is still unfortunately very undeveloped, so, by the last data from 2001. (4) in that
purpose, was invested all together only 4 mil $. In the Republic of Slovenia, by comparison, in
the same year and with the same purpose was invested around 6 mil $, in Hungary 33 mil $. The
second reason lies in the fact that with ethical research, for example with the method of taking a
survey, it can not be expected that the answers of examinees (companies, for example, as clients,
but also agencies for marketing research as providers) would be honest and objective. That’s
why the methodology in this paper would only be in descriptive portrait of ethics in marketing,
also separately in the analyses of specific ethics in marketing research, and finally in the analyses
of the opportunities to enhance the level of ethical practise in marketing research based on the
empirical discovery of the authors.

ETHICS IN MARKETING

The word 'ethics' is derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’, which refers to the character. Generally
speaking, and probably to an even greater extent in business, ethics is a very complex subject.
Like several authors, Beauchamp (1), divides the major philosophical trends in ethics into two
large categories: the utilitarian approach and the deontological approach. Under the utilitarian
approach, the notion of ethics is closely related to the consequences of an action. According to
this approach, the manager will attempt to produce the greatest possible amount of positive value
or the smallest possible amount of negative value for the persons affected. In opposition, the
deontological approach, largely based on the work of the philosopher Emmanuel Kant, considers
not so much the consequences of an act as the manner in which the act is performed. This
approach is based on the notion of categorical imperatives and, consequently, is more normative
in nature. For Kant, a course of action is not ethical unless the person who adopts it would see
nothing reprehensible in its adoption by all others and unless this practice does not threaten the
survival of society. Following this logic, lying and stealing are unethical practices, no matter
what their consequences. In other words, in deontology, one cannot assume that the end justifies
the means (7).

Ethics is an invisible governing force behind every human conduct, may it be that of an
individual or that of an organisation. It is a system of moral principles the basis for determining
wrong and right actions. Business ethics are the principles, practices and philosophies that guide
business people in a business situation and are concerned primarily with the impact of decisions
of the society, within and outside business enterprises.

In other words, business ethics is a system of professional principles or values pertaining to

judgments, duties and obligations in business. It determines what is good and ethical in business
from the perspective of business morality, and what is wrong and unethical. It establishes what is
just, and what is unjust (2). Put simply, business ethics represents behaviour consistent with
specific written, as well as unwritten, rules of professional conduct, and it serves to determine
what is considered acceptable and what, unacceptable in business practise.

Of all the management fields, the field of marketing is undoubtedly that which raises the most
controversy when it comes to the question of ethics. Is there anyone who has not heard stories of
false advertising, pressure selling or even discriminatory pricing practices? Although the
research function may appear more objective in principle, certain questions can also be raised
concerning its ethics.

Marketing ethics is expressed by the use of moral codes, values, and standards to determine
whether marketing actions are good or evil, right or wrong. Often standards are based on
professional or association codes of ethics (6). In other words, ethics in marketing represents the
process of adopting and respecting the codes of conduct and the moral values of society in the
dealings of enterprises, companies and organisations.

In the following section, however, we shall focus exclusively on the issues of ethics in marketing
research, perhaps the most critical element of marketing in terms of ethics. Namely, failure to
conduct marketing research in an ethically appropriate manner can give rise to the danger of
obtaining invalid research results, which can in turn lead to invalid marketing decisions based on
such research and taken in the previously mentioned stages of the marketing process.

ETHICS IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Ethics in marketing research foremost refers to the morality of all participants in conducting the
research process. Morality in this sense chiefly pertains to determining what is right, and what is
wrong, and thereby what is ethical and what is not. Basic uncertainty most often arises in
borderline cases, that is, cases in which no clear demarcation exists between what is right and
wrong. But not only so. Many times this will depend upon the subjective stance of individuals,
who are in turn determined by their own system of moral values. Hence, judgements on the
ethical/unethical character of a business practise will vary from one person to another.
Obviously, another problem arises when judgement on the ethical/unethical character of a
business practise is passed at a specific hierarchic decision-making level: a person at the top of
the scale may judge something to be ethical, although objectively it is not, thus giving lower-
level employees, who do not share this opinion, cause for frustration and discouragement in their
work.

The principles and standards used to judge ethical practices are influenced by many different
factors such as mass media, interest groups, culture, business organisations, and the personal
morals and values of the people involved. As stated above, in marketing research doubts as to
what is ethical and what is not can arise on the part of all the participants in the research process,
who can generally be divided into the following groups: (3)

1. Research provider (an agency, for example) and its researchers

2. Subject (user) of research results (client)
3. Object of research (respondent)

The unethical behaviour of the research provider, most often a research agency, can take on an
entire array of various forms. One of the most frequent forms of unethical practise, especially
from the viewpoint of the client, pertains to research project pricing. Very often specialised
research agencies do not possess a general price-list for their services, justifying this with the fact
that no research projects are alike. Obviously, there is no dispute that research projects may vary
according to their subject of research, spatial scope, sample size, number of questions, etc.
However, it is often a common practise among research agencies to determine the price of a
research project primarily on the basis of the client’s estimated financial standing. Also, research
agencies tend to give a price estimate onto which are subsequently grafted considerably higher
and previously unspecified extra or special costs (costs of field work, data entry, data processing,
etc.). Not rarely this is combined with additional means of data collection which are not actually
necessary, as they do not help to increase the reliability of the research project, but rather serve
to artificially increase the project’s overall price as they are provided as part of a “package deal”.
Similarly, research providers may promise to lower their prices in repeat research projects, but
then fail to honour this commitment.

A notorious form of unethical behaviour of research agencies is related to the remuneration of

fieldwork to researchers. Researchers are generally young unemployed people, students for the
most part, and they are usually under-paid with no long-term service contract and are made to
wait for payment a considerably long time after their job has been completed. Occasionally, field
researchers are deprived of the promotional material previously promised to respondents for their
cooperation. Often agencies fail to reimburse local transport costs to field researchers – another
form of “exploiting” field researchers – despite the fact that respondents are fairly widely
dispersed. Also, unethical behaviour frequently occurs when agencies, in contracting field
researchers, fail to inform them on the contents of the questionnaire, merely specifying the
number of questions involved; only later do researchers realize the complexity of the questions
and the time needed for broad explanations to respondents. Indirectly in this way, remuneration
to field researchers is considerably reduced.

Another issue of ethical practises pertains to the way in which the project contracted between the
client and the research provider, in most cases, a market research agency, is carried out. The
contracted market research project may be conducted in a not entirely professional manner
reflected foremost in research results falsified in favour of the client (so-called window-
dressing); results falsified because the research provider is aware that, to cut costs, a
representative sample was not taken; and finally, results falsified to deliberately conceal the
methodological approach used in the research project. Under the guise of business confidentiality
or copyright, agencies sometimes keep details of the research methodology from the client to
hide the fact that they are being manipulated. This is especially the case when an agency has
conducted research on a large spatial scale, for example, the entire territory of the Republic of
Croatia and then tries to sell partial results of the research project to various local and regional
self-government units, naturally, without specifying what share of the sample pertains to the self-
government unit in question. In cases like these, it can happen, as it often does, that “important”
decisions are made for a region, say, a smaller-sized city, without ever knowing that perhaps
only a few dozen respondents belonged to the city.

Ethical issues can also arise with regard to the respondents in the survey method, in cases where
the declared anonymity of research is abused and the personal data of respondents is
subsequently used for other purposes. After the research project has been completed, ethical
concerns can also emerge if the agency makes use of the information obtained from the client or
the research results for other purposes without the client’s approval. The opposite situation is
also possible in which the agency is not awarded the job, but the client uses the elements of the
agency’s offer (methodology, proposed questionnaire, etc.) to conduct a survey independently or
through another less costly agency. This is also the most common reason why research providers
may choose not the reveal the details of their research methodology, an issue mentioned above.

In addition to the above case, unethical action in marketing research on the part of the subject
(user) of research results is generally reflected in the way these results are interpreted. Namely,
results can be interpreted in a way that conveys the truth, but not only the truth as occasionally
some things may be deliberately withheld. In other words, if we want our marketing research
project to be ethical, our guiding idea in interpreting research results must be – as stipulated in
some court proceedings – the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Let us illustrate
this in the following example:

Let us assume that a research project was conducted to determine the listener ratings of radio
stations in the town of Osijek (Croatia) and that a sample of 1,000 respondents was surveyed. Let
us further assume that out of the total number of respondents 800 have stated that they listen to
the radio, but only 400 respondents always listen to the same station. The distribution of
responses from these 400 respondents is as follows:

Radio Station Percentage

A 30%
B 20%
C 15%
D 10%
Each of the remaining 6 radio stations has
received less than 5% of votes, giving a total of 25%

After the results of research have been made available to the radio stations, let us assume that
Radio Station B has made the below states in its advertising:
“Radio Station B has the second highest listener rating in the Slavonia-Baranya region.”
“Radio Station B has double the listener rating of Radio Station D”.

In other words, in addition to falsifying information regarding the spatial scale of the sample by
stating “the Slavonia-Baranya region” instead of “the town of Osijek” even though all radio
stations can be heard over the entire area of the town, but not the Slavonia-Baranya region, in its
second statement Radio Station B has failed to make any mention of the size of the sample, the
numbers of respondents who listen to the radio, the number of respondents who tune in to Radio
Station B, or finally the absolute number of respondents who listen in to Radio Station B relative
to those who listen in to Radio Station D.

We are also witnesses to call-in voting by television viewers in various television shows, in
particular, shows intended for young audiences, in which the absolute number of voters is almost
never stated, only the relative number. Again, this speaks against the credibility of such results.
Similarly, during election campaigns, research results on the political rating of various parties are
presented in the media, but without any clear indication of the methodology used, the size of the
sample, and so on, thus considerably reducing the credibility of these results.

Ethical issues can also occur on the part of the researchers engaged by the research agency, and,
for the most part, they pertain to so-called interviewer errors. For example, the gravest
interviewer error is falsifying responses in the interview method. Instead of going into the field
and interviewing a respondent, the interviewer might answer the questionnaires by himself “in
the comfort of his home” or have the questionnaires filled out by friends and acquaintances.
Obviously, there is no need to point out what this means to the objectivity of the interview
method. Another version of this error are partially falsified responses: if the interviewer has
failed to fulfil his quota of the sample and has a few interviews still left, he might fill out the
remaining units of his sample quota by himself, or even copy the responses from other
questionnaires. Falsified responses can be detected by putting in place interview control
techniques and by examining the completed questionnaires. In any case, once it has been
established that an interviewer is guilty of falsifying responses, he must be eliminated from the
research project immediately with no compensation for his (in) activity. The failure to apply
interview control techniques can also represent a form of unethical action by tacitly allowing
responses to be falsified.

Other errors on the part of the interviewer usually involve the following:

a) Insufficient knowledge of the issues with which the survey deals;

b) The halo effect in the course of the survey;
c) Unintentional erring (particularly in recording responses), the so-called systemic error;
d) Non-objectivity or bias in the course of the survey.

Ultimately, interviewer errors and researcher errors can be interpreted as unethical, to a certain
extent, because they arise out of the improper way the job is performed with regard to the
specific standards to which researchers must adhere. A particular problem is the manner in which
interviewers are recruited, not only because it is difficult to find people who can succeed in
meeting all the characteristics essential for doing this job, but also because this is a job usually
entrusted to people as supplemental employment (students, retired persons). Hence, when
making a selection it is always necessary to previously test or interview candidates.

Efforts to eliminate interviewer errors or keep them at a minimum should also involve providing
interviewers with interview guidelines once they have completed their training. Also, to ensure
the least possible number of interviewer errors, which obviously do occur, it is necessary for
researchers to possess certain mental and physical characteristics, the most important being:

 An interest in the subject and purpose of research

 Culture, intelligence and education
 Ability to carry out the job with integrity, and in a meticulous and timely manner
 Knowledge of the interviewing technique
 Tact and unobtrusiveness
 Patience, as well as tenacity
 An out-going personality and good communication skills
 Physical stamina
 Good articulation and a comparatively wide vocabulary.

In any event, interview control techniques appear as a preventative measure in avoiding

interviewer errors. In principle, this can take on one of the following forms:

1. Repeating interviews (making a repeat visit, for example),

2. Checking the completed questionnaires (simply to look for identical questionnaires,
consistency in responses, a positive orientation, and so on),
3. Using mechanical means alongside the interview.

Finally, it is possible to speak of ethical practises with regard to the objects of the research
(respondents) reflected in so-called respondent errors. Normally, once a respondent has accepted
to participate in an interview, he is expected to respond to questions in a truthful and unbiased
manner. This is not always the case, however, thus giving rise to the following respondent errors:

a) Not understanding or misinterpreting questions;

b) Deliberately giving distorted responses;
c) Unintentionally giving distorted responses;
d) Indifference;
e) Biased assessment of future behaviour.

Once again, eliminating and minimising respondent errors generally comes down to providing
the appropriate training to interviewers, and properly selecting interviewers and formulating
questions in the questionnaire, because, as indicated earlier, the majority of respondent errors
are, in fact, derived from the errors of interviewers or inadequately designed questionnaires.
 OPPORTUNITIES TO ENHANCE THE LEVEL OF ETHICAL PRACTISE IN
MARKETING RESEARCH

The question arises as how to bring about a significant improvement in the level of ethical
conduct in marketing research? The fact is, today's marketing researchers must be proactive in
their efforts to ensure an ethical environment, and the first step in being proactive is to develop a
code of ethics (3). Such research depends upon public confidence: confidence that it is carried
out honestly, objectively, without unwelcome intrusion or disadvantage to respondents, and that
it is based upon their willing cooperation. This confidence must be supported by an appropriate
professional Code of Practice, which governs the way in which marketing research projects are
conducted. The European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR - Founded in
1948, European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research today has some 4000 members,
who are legal as well as physical entities, in over 100 countries, and it brings together marketing
research professionals the world over.) published the first such Code in 1948. This was followed
by a number of Codes prepared by national marketing research societies and by other bodies
such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which represents the international
marketing community. In 1976, ESOMAR and the ICC decided that it would be preferable to
have a single International Code instead of two differing ones, and a joint ICC/ESOMAR Code
was therefore published in the following year (with revisions in 1986).

Subsequent changes in the marketing and social environment, new developments in marketing
research methods and a great increase in international activities of all kinds including legislation,
led ESOMAR to prepare a new version of the International Code in 1994. This new version sets
out as concisely as possible the basic ethical and business principles which govern the practice of
marketing and social research. It specifies the rules which are to be followed in dealing with the
general public and with the business community, including clients and other members of the
profession (5).

Starting with the general rule that marketing research must always be carried out objectively and
in accordance with established scientific principles, the Code goes on to specify an entire array
of respondents’ rights and professional responsibilities of researchers, the mutual rights and
responsibilities of researchers and clients, and implementation of the Code. The rights of
respondents include, among others, the following rights:

 Respondents' cooperation in a marketing research project is entirely voluntary at all stages.

 Respondents' anonymity must be strictly preserved.
 The researcher must take all reasonable precautions to ensure that respondents are in no way
directly harmed or adversely affected as a result of their participation in a marketing research
project.
 The researcher must take special care when interviewing children and young people.
 Respondents must be told (normally at the beginning of the interview) if observation
techniques or recording equipment are being used, except where these are used in a public
place.
 Respondents must be enabled to check without difficulty the identity and bona fides of the
researcher.
On the other hand, the obligations and responsibilities of researcher include, among others, the
following ones:

 Researchers must not, whether knowingly or negligently, act in any way which could bring
discredit on the marketing research profession or lead to a loss of public confidence in it.
 Researchers must not make false claims about their skills and experience or about those of
their organisation.
 Researchers must always strive to design research which is cost-efficient and of adequate
quality, and then to carry this out to the specifications agreed with the client.
 Researchers must ensure the security of all research records in their possession.

The American Marketing Association has developed its own special Code, which, similar to the
ESOMAR Code, consists of sections dealing with: (6)

 Research users, practitioners and interviewers

 Research practitioners
 Users of marketing research
 Field interviewers.

CROMAR, the Croatian Marketing Association, has adopted the ESOMAR Code of Conduct,
while the Association for Marketing Research of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce has
decided to create its own code of conduct based on the ESOMAR Code. In addition, the
Association of Marketing Research strives to promote professional values in the providers and
users of marketing research services through education, the protection of privacy, clear
communication with government institutions and the media, as well as through instruments
providing protection from unfair competition.

CONCLUSION

Directly or indirectly, all participants in the research process – the research provider with its
researchers, and the users and the objects (respondents) of marketing research – must be
protected from any unethical practises. In the world today, it is common for marketing research
agencies to adopt internal codes of ethical conduct, especially as a part of their efforts to achieve
ISO quality standards. Once in place, these codes are strictly observed and even disciplinary
action may be taken against employees responsible for a breach of ethics. In this way, good
managerial and organisational practise is fostered, especially in developing social responsibility.
Another possibility is setting up ethics committees within the research providers to settle
disputed cases.

Developing corporate cultures that encourage ethical behaviour and discourage unethical
behaviour is becoming a prominent concern of marketing management. Toward this end,
researchers suggest that organisations develop and enforce codes of ethics, institute formal ethics
training programs, hire ethical consultants, maintain standing ethics committees, and ensure that
top managers actively address any ethical problems confronting their organisations.
People of organisations are increasingly finding themselves facing ethical dilemmas in such
situations they are required to define right and wrong conduct accordingly to realities in
business. In any case, the marketing industry has taken steps to ensure that ethical research
practices become the norm rather than the exception.

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