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I have an ethics question for a strategic management class and I need help on how to best conduct research on it. The question is as follows: Do

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I have an ethics question for a strategic management class and I need help on how to best conduct research on it. The question is as follows: Do ethical practices affect a firm’s ability to develop brand as a source of competitive advantage? If so, how does this happen? Can you think of brands that are a source of competitive advantage at least in part because of the firm’s ethical practices

Answered By: Linda Kern
Last Updated: Dec 12, 2016     Views: 154

Hello,

Based on the phrasing of the question, my suggestions will point you toward consumers, as opposed to institutional investors in publicly held companies.

Begin with the Business LibGuide; click the gold Articles tab. Start the research with ABI/Inform Complete. Paste in this multipurpose search: business ethics AND brand AND (loyalty OR trust). Paste because exact formatting is important to your results. Just like algebra operations, this search will start with articles including either the word loyalty or the word trust. It will then eliminate those that don't also include business ethics and brand, leaving you with a relevant pool of results. Before clicking SEARCH, choose full text.

On the results page, limit the results to the last 5 years. Focus on the scholarly and trade publications. Here you will find articles such as Singh, J. J., Iglesias, O., & Batista-foguet, J. (2012). Does having an ethical brand matter? The influence of consumer perceived ethicality on trust, affect and loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(4), 541-549. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1216-7

I also noticed a PRNewswire result titled 56% of Americans stop buying from brands they believe are unethical - right on topic but not suitable because it's not a primary source. I went to Google and after much clicking around I located the original report. The whole report is $4000, but the page I linked includes a summary of the Report Contents, which is adequate for your purpose.

After you've reviewed the results in ABI/Inform Complete, if you need more information go back to the LibGuide can click on Business Source Complete (it's listed directly under the other database). As before, search ethics AND brand AND (loyalty OR trust). Limit the results to full text academic journals and trade publications published in the last 5 years. Here you will find Johnson, B. (2012). Are you investing enough in brand trust? Marketing Week, 35(4), 3. Retrieved from http://www.marketingweek.com/ and Schmalz, S., & Orth, U. R. (2012). Brand attachment and consumer emotional response to unethical firm behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 29(11), 869-884. doi:10.1002/mar.20570

Thanks for asking a librarian.

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