Consumer ethics: moral ideologies and ethical beliefs of a micro-culture in the US

This study explores the ethical ideologies and ethical beliefs of African American consumers using the Forsyth ethical position questionnaire (EPQ) and the Muncy-Vitell consumer ethics questionnaire (MVQ). The two dimensions of the EPQ (i.e. idealism and relativism), and gender were the independent variables and the four dimensions of the MVQ (i.e. illegal, active, passive and no harm) were the dependent variables. A sample of 283 students from a historically black university was used to explore the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Findings suggested that consumers who scored higher on the idealism scale and lower on the relativism scale were more likely to reject questionable activities. On average, females expressed more willingness to reject questionable activities than males.