Marketing Ethics and Relationship Marketing - An Empirical Study that Measure the Effect of Ethics Practices Application on Maintaining Relationships with Customers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of ethics embedded practices on maintaining long-term relationships with customers. Based on an extensive literature review, four elements of marketing ethics, namely, honesty, autonomy, privacy and transparency were identified and examined by utilizing a sample of 360 participants. Adopting a quantitative approach, the study conducted on telecommunication sector subscribers revealed that the elements of marketing ethics affected an organization’s ability of maintaining long-term relationships with customers and had a strong influence on feedback, transparency and privacy. The results also showed the crucial role of generating feedback from customers for creating and maintaining long-term relationships. The results will enable marketers to not only analyze the importance of adopting ethical practices in their strategies but also the relative relevance of these practices as perceived by customers.