Page 204 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

196 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

Acting Ethically

In evaluating complex ethical decisions in a social marketing context, it is
helpful if both administrators and employees utilize a multiple-step pro-
cess to analyze and solve these dilemmas. Murphy and colleagues (2012,
pp. 41–44) suggested a seven-step approach of (1) determining the facts
of the situation, (2) identifying the relevant ethical issues or questions, (3)
articulating the affected stakeholders, (4) selecting an ethical theory or
standard (see discussion above), (5) specifying the alternatives and apply-
ing the relevant theories/concepts, (6) making and justifying the decision,
and (7) monitoring the decision’s outcomes. This process is not an easy
one, but it treats difficult ethical questions in a systematic manner.
Following is a discussion of two aspects of the process: generating alterna-
tives and implementing ethical decisions.

Generating Alternatives
After identifying and analyzing an ethical issue, social marketers
must consider their alternatives for ethical action. Drumwright and
Murphy (2004) observed that some advertising professionals demon-
strated what scholars have referred to as moral imagination (e.g., Johnson,
1993; Werhane, 1999). Moral imagination is the ability to think outside
the box and imagine moral alternatives that others do not. Individuals
with moral imagination have the resourcefulness to generate unique in-
sights that lead them to envision ways to be both ethical and successful.
Drumwright and Murphy (2004) noted that the advertising professionals
with moral imagination in their study had mastered the various aspects of
Rest’s (1984) model of four psychological components that determine
moral behavior:

1) moral sensitivity (interpreting the situation), 2) moral judgment (judging
which action is morally right/wrong, 3) moral motivation (prioritizing
moral values relative to other values), and 4) moral character (having cour-
age, persisting, overcoming distractions, implementing skills). (p. 23)

Drumwright and Murphy (2004) observed that moral imagination is
akin to what Levitt (1986, pp. 127–128) identified as “marketing imagina-
tion,” through which marketers make “an inspired leap from the obvious
to the meaningful,” reconceptualize a problem, and generate a solution to
it. Inasmuch as social marketers can develop marketing imagination, they
should be able to develop moral imagination.