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

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.

Automated summary

This article conducts a systematic literature review to investigate the role of ethics in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The review reveals five broad themes of ethics in B2B marketing, including ethical leadership, ethical behavior, relational management ethics, responsible firm ethics, and ethical climate.