The purpose of this research is to empirically examine another part of the ethical decision making process as it is hypothesized in the Hunt and Vitell's General Theory of Marketing Ethics (1986). In terms of the deontological part of Hunt and Vitell model, there is only one study conducted to examine this component. Singhapakdi and Vitell (1991) analyzed the relationship between deontological norms, a set of predetermined norms representing personal values or rules of behavior, and the background factors as depicted in the model: organizational environment (organizational culture) and personal characteristics (machiavellianism, locus of control and gender). The other two background factors: cultural background and industry environment were ignored. To take into account the importance of the deontological component in Hunt and Vitell's model, this present study is aimed to examine the relationship between deontological norms and the other two background factors: cultural background and other personal characteristics (economic, political and religious value orientations). This research is the improvement of the previous research (Sarwono, 1997) which examined the relationship between perceived ethical problem and cultural background and personal characteristics (economic, political, and religious value orientations). The results of this present study will confirm that deontological norms are formed by the personal characteristics (economic, political, and religious value orientations and cultural environment (Hunt and Vitell, 1986).
In line with the previous study (Sarwono, 1997), this study will utilize mail survey method. A close-ended and self administered questionnaire will be used to study business ethics. A mail survey is appropriate because it allows the researcher to cover extensive regions for the study while maintain the anonymity of the respondents. The cultural background will be measured using Hofstede's Value Module Survey (1984). This module has been used extensively in many scientific studies (Sondergaard, 1994) and is able to diagnose cultural gaps among nations (Matsumoto, 1989; Punnett and Withane, 1990; Kale, 1991; Kale and McIntyre, 1991). To measure economic, political and religious value orientations, the Study of Values inventory developed by Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey (1960) will be utilized whereas the deontological norms will be designed in line with Singhapakdi and Vitell (1991). Furthermore, the collected data will be analyzed using multivariate statistics, specifically multivariate regression analysis. The dependent variable is deontological norms while the independent variables are Hofstede's cultural dimensions and economic, political, and religious value orientations.
The result shows that there is a significant positive relatioship between deontological norms score and religious value orientation (p<0.05). The other statistical results show that there are significant negative relationship between deontological norms score and Individualism (IDV) and Masculinity (MAS) dimensions (p < 0.01) The correlation coefficients were 0.11, 0.12, and-0.15, respectively. These results reflect that individual with high religious value orientation will tend to be more "ethical" in terms of deontological norms than individual with low religious value orientation. Moreover, individual with high Individualism and Masculinity will tend to be less likely to perceive ethical problem in terms of deontological norms, or tend to be less "ethical". The contribution of this study to the existing body of knowledge extends the explanation of Hunt and Vitell's General Theory of Marketing Ethics.