Ethical Marketing as a Tool for Developing Customer Relations: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

In marketing practices, ethics are core building blocks in establishing trust, which in turn helps in building long-term customer relationships. In developed nations, ethical judgment of consumers has received considerable attention but in Indian market setting, marketing ethics have barely been explored. The selling of spurious products is common to Indian consumers. This paper attempts to examine the consciousness among the consumers about marketing practices followed by the marketers in the Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir State. The study is based on a well defined schedule of five point Likert Scale. The results indicate that consumers are conscious about the marketing practices adopted by the marketers and they are mindful while making buying decisions. Further, the consumers prefer marketers following ethical practices in terms of offering product quality, pricing policy, sharing product information, respecting social and cultural values which in turn help in developing customer relations.

Keywords: Ethical Marketing, Customer Relations, Ethical Dilemmas, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethical Judgments

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