The ethical orientation of advertising executives: The relationship among ethical climate, sex role identity, and selected demographic and job variables

In the last three decades, the advertising industry has undergone massive consolidation, resulting in the formation of a handful of international publicly owned conglomerates, each focused on bottom line performance, rather than top line creativity. Thus, advertising executives operate in an environment that constantly presents ethical dilemmas stemming from concerns for client retention, and client demands for alternative compensation methods that are based on performance rather than media commissions. This study tested the relationships between ethical climate, sex role identity, and selected demographic (age, education, gender) and job (status, tenure, organization size) to the ethical orientation of advertising executives.;The theoretical framework of the study was based on Victor and Cullen's theory of ethical climate, Sandra Bem's theory of sex role identity, and Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of cognitive moral development. The instruments that measured these variables were Victor and Cullen's Ethical Climate Questionnaire, Spence and Helmreich's Personal Attributes Questionnaire, James Rest's Defining Issues Test, and a demographic and job variables questionnaire developed by the researcher.;The data collection method employed a mixed strategy that included nationally mailed surveys and convenience samples conducted at professional conferences and meetings of regional advertising clubs. This method attained a near 50% response rate. The survey is based upon 187 usable responses.;Over 92% of the respondents reported an androgynous sex role type, and female advertising executives scored higher than male executives on ethical orientation, confirming previous research. Of the five Ethical Climates identified by Victor and Cullen (Professional, Rules, Caring, Instrumental, Independence), three showed some relationship to Ethical Orientation. The Instrumental climate was perceived more often by first line and middle level managers. The Caring climate was perceived more often by advertising executives in smaller agencies of 100 employees or less. There was a significant relationship between Management Level and the perception of the Caring climate. Senior level advertising executives and first line managers perceived the Caring climate more frequently than did middle level managers. The findings also indicated that older (60 years plus), more experienced employees perceived the Independence climate more than other age groups.;Together, the Instrumental and Caring climates accounted for 6.3% of the variance in ethical orientation. The remaining 93.7% of the variance was unexplained. The noticeable relationship between the Caring, Instrumental, and Independence climates to ethical orientation leads to the expectation that a larger sample could have yielded more substantial relationships among these variables. This finding could inform advertising executives on the kind of ethical climate to foster in their organizations in order to advance ethical decision making.