Pandora's Box Reopened: Can Generative AI Restore Hope or Result in a Decline in the Quest for Academic Integrity

Abstract

This research outlines the potential impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on research integrity in marketing scholarship and other fields that macromarketing research draws on. The research provides a detailed analysis of the likely outcomes of GenAI on already declining research integrity, the probable outcomes in the future if the trends continue, and a roadmap for a better future in which GenAI enhances rather than undermines research integrity. Applying the H-V model of ethical decision-making, the research contrasts a range of viewpoints related to different belief statements of right and wrong (deontological norms) that people might draw upon in determining which activities involving GenAI at different stages of a research paper development are proper to pursue. The authors emphasize macromarketing's responsibility to establish guard rails for responsible GenAI use in scientific research to maintain trust, advance knowledge, and seek truth.