TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of ethics in business-to-business marketing
T2 - An exploratory review and research agenda
AU - Anand, Amitabh
AU - Bowen, Melanie
AU - Spivack, April
AU - Vessal, Saeedeh Rezaee
AU - Rangarajan, Deva
N1 - Funding Information:
The Author(s) would like to thank Nisreen Ameen from Royal Holloway, University of London, and Shaheen Hosany from Goldsmiths University of London for their help and support in this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/11/1
Y1 - 2023/11/1
N2 - Despite the prominence of ethics in mainstream marketing literature, its position in business-to-business (B2B) marketing continues to be underrepresented. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the role of ethics in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. First, we evaluate how ethics-related topics have evolved in the B2B marketing literature, primarily focusing on how the different marketing journals have addressed this topic and also considering the geographical representation of ethics-based research. We achieve this by using established best practice review methodologies. Our review revealed that research on ethics in B2B marketing could be distilled into five broad themes: ethical leadership, ethical behavior, relational management ethics, responsible firm ethics, and ethical climate. Finally, we highlight research gaps and suggest opportunities for future research based on these critical themes.
AB - Despite the prominence of ethics in mainstream marketing literature, its position in business-to-business (B2B) marketing continues to be underrepresented. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the role of ethics in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. First, we evaluate how ethics-related topics have evolved in the B2B marketing literature, primarily focusing on how the different marketing journals have addressed this topic and also considering the geographical representation of ethics-based research. We achieve this by using established best practice review methodologies. Our review revealed that research on ethics in B2B marketing could be distilled into five broad themes: ethical leadership, ethical behavior, relational management ethics, responsible firm ethics, and ethical climate. Finally, we highlight research gaps and suggest opportunities for future research based on these critical themes.
KW - 512 Business and Management
KW - business-to-business ethics
KW - B2B marketing ethics
KW - ethical leadership
KW - ethical behavior
KW - relational ethics
KW - ethical climate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175269136&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.10.013
DO - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.10.013
M3 - Article
SN - 0019-8501
VL - 115
SP - 421
EP - 438
JO - IMM – Industrial Marketing Management
JF - IMM – Industrial Marketing Management
IS - November 2023
ER -