To effectively enhance ethical and socially responsible practices in marketing, it is important to have a better understanding of marketers' decision processes in situations involving ethics and social responsibility. In the last 15 years, much progress has been made in this regard. For example, there has been considerable theoretical work in the area of marketing ethics (e.g., Ferrell and Gresham 1985, Hunt and Vitell 1986, Ferrell, Gresham and Fraedrich 1989, Hunt and Vitell 1993). Similarly, there has been significant empirical work testing these theories (e.g., Vitell and Hunt 1990, Singhapakdi and Vitell 1990, 1991, Hunt and Vasquez-Parraga 1993). Nevertheless, relatively little is known about actual cultural differences in terms of influencing marketers' attitudes concerning ethics and social responsibility. This information is crucial, however, because of the recent expansion of global business and the potential differences in both the level of importance and the enforcement of ethical policies and codes.
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