The role of ethics in business-to-business marketing : an exploratory review and research agenda

Abstract

Despite the prominence of ethics in mainstream marketing literature, its position in business-to-business (B2B) marketing continues to be underrepresented. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the role of ethics in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. First, we evaluate how ethics-related topics have evolved in the B2B marketing literature, primarily focusing on how the different marketing journals have addressed this topic and also considering the geographical representation of ethics-based research. We achieve this by using established best practice review methodologies. Our review revealed that research on ethics in B2B marketing could be distilled into five broad themes: ethical leadership, ethical behavior, relational management ethics, responsible firm ethics, and ethical climate. Finally, we highlight research gaps and suggest opportunities for future research based on these critical themes.